Fores? Service

Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station

Genera! Technical Repot PSW-59

u< Br Fi

Lisfe 1 * % Goats ate first-year regrowth of chai California bush buckwheat, and Ea< scarcely touched 5-year-old plants of bedding grounds or other places of c mahogany and scrub oak were most 5-year-old brush stands. For fuelbreaks, Spanish goats have Angoras. They are larger, and better ators, and the marketable kids are I what better browsers than Angoras, With good feed, and intensive mans be more profitable, however.

Recommended stocking rates for | (0.2 to 1.2 ha) per goat the first yeai ding on the amount of regrowth, thereafter. Larger numbers of goats periods. Stocking rates that continu

managers, land manager Firecitizens agree on "fuelbreaks" control wildfire. Fuelbreaks are sti or around communities, or other value, 200 to 400 ft (60 to 120 m) w at risk determine the intensity of fi Low volume, low growing vegetati intense fire is generally maintained c Accounts about goats damagi

Pacific Islands are found in the li Vries 1979; Coblentz 1976, 197 Dombois 1973; Vries 1979; Vrie: Goats have been on the Channel California coast for at least 150 y have sheep (Coblentz 1980, Minni< released on the Channel and other 1 and intc plorations or settlement, they had no natural enemies. To pr of native plants and to accomplish i threatened and endangered plants Navy removed about 20,000 gOc Island between 1973 and mid-1981 remained for later removal effort was discontinued even where ic 1 present under thick brush (fig. 2). As Angora goats grazed at a hea 1 Research Station in Sonora, Te understory developed (Merrill and Africa, grassland being invaded b\ or 1625/ha) was burned off, then si end of the season when cattle were tion did not differ between plot without (Trollope 1974).

Our experience then and that re] that goats under proper stocking \v damaging the herbaceous vegetatic

P/onfc ^$M f *& A green herbaceous plant the gc close utilization was wild peony (Pa< Telegraph weed (Heterotheca granc low palatability rating, even though A communal maintained group j bara Ranger District, Los Padres 1* years (Brotherhood of the Sun 197-

Plants browsed yearlong, but and with winter, along dry j (Quercus dumosa), coast in chamise (Adenostoma fasdcui buckwheat (Eriogonum /as

bloom), manzanita (during t sagebrush (Artemisia californ, tnvnn (Hptprnmplex arhutifnliri twins {or sometimes triplets) with gr the Angoras. Kid crops in either bn under poor range conditions to 15 plane of nutrition (Dollahite 1972, N

Taylor 1976, Spurlock and others ; Caialina Island averaged less than c and only 1.2 young per birth due level in areas of high goal density (( that are undernourished tend to r absorption (Spurlock and others 19" nia during one winter on poor brow; refused to claim their kids, or abanc of 100 percent is suggested as a wiidland conditions. Which type of goat then for Spurlock and others (1978) suggests without excessive, continuous brov Merrill and Taylor (1976) suggest f (12 to 20/ha) for 30-day periods on the San Juan Basin Research Cen stocked at oak regrowth was eight j 25 days, with a second browsing The stocking rate was reduced each time 95 percent of the sprouts wer 1975). In southern California, 400 for 2 days stripped the leaves ar palatable species making up 80 r> dense shrub cover. Less palatable wood rnanzanita, and bush buckw' percent of the available browse- after available leaves and small t from the palatable shrubs (Green < management standards, and the nee herders with well-trained dogs to keq to prevent losses. Such skills are in si Father-more, herding without supple ac pensive for the herd owner and with the kid-nanny relationship and To keep the goats within boui necessary to use net fence or sped h ranges or pastures fenced for cattle three to five, usually four, barbed wi for cattle, but they will not confin< feed is not to the goats' liking. In ^ Counties, the center of Californij recommendation is for woven win

12-inch (15- by 30-cm) mesh. A barb and one or two above the mesh. A /I 1 ^,\ tntni V,*;,rkt IP rtinnacte^ Tl mature brush, they are less inclined in search of better feed.

Other Considerations

In addition to the problems of h plying water, other problems as: goats in mountainous areas includ

Roads are usually not good, i passable by snowfall or hea mountain operations in soui usually be set for the period A At other times, uncertainty in tions. In northern California, On March 12, 1976, 435 nannies the Goleta ranch arrived on the De Cleveland National Forest, at about lion. During ihe second week of Apr dropped snow and rain, and the cold Nineteen kids and 8 nannies died e\ trailer home was filled with kids. On and sleet for I / 2 hour, and 20 to 30 1 died or had left them had to be bo died.

A tropical storm caused intense ra into San Diego County on Augus drowned in a flooded creek, and 24 1 the brush later. In early October, thr ing stormy weather. The total 1976 loss on the Cleveland National Fore Tree tobacco has long been recog

to all classes of 1 tially poisonous County Livestock Department Malmsten 1942). Tree tobacco has deformities in calves when the m< ground tree tobacco during the f leaves ai (Keeler 1979). The young dangerous parts of the plant, and th in canyon bottoms and disturbed sil ilia. Fortunately, they are distastefu Catalina Island that are heavily b tobacco was utilized only when otr depleted, and then only sparingly (C Seeds and young leaves of Jimse poisoning if this plant is eaten to exc or see plant are dangerous. The burs Demand for young goats is considi Easter, and a demand for goats is wii of Hispanic and other Mediterrar barbecuing is becoming more popu Young goats are sold as "cabrito,' mature goats as "chevon." Meat fr manly used for sausage (Dollahite 1 In California, November and Eto

to sell goats, and spring a good time I

owner of goats on the Cleveland 1 1978-79. Spotted or mottled goats a buyers, whereas brown or white a (Beene 1979). P; Goodin, Joe R. eds. Wildland shrub tion. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-1. Ogden, IT Range Experiment Station, Forest Sei Agriculture; 1972; 414-427. Pearson, Erwin W.; Caroline, Milton. Pn livestock losses in central Texas. J. Rai 1981 November.

Plaister, Robert E.; Dal Porto, Norman. brash areas. Amador County, CA: Calif. Plumb, T. R. Sprouting of chaparral by I July. Tech. Paper 57. Berkeley, CA: P; Range Experiment Station, Forest Sei Agriculture; 1961. 12 p. Raven, Peter H. A flora of San Clemen 5(3):289-347; 1963 April 15. Sampson, Arthur W. Plant succession on northern California. Bull. 685. Berkele

Stn.; 1944. 143 p. Sampson, Arthur W.; Malmsten, Harry E

MY QUARTER CENTURY OF of that convention )ne of the most spectacular features ot Ohio debate betwixt Gen. Tom Ewmg i the great of New York, on the financial I Governor Dorsheimer a veritable battle of giants, nk of the platform. It was conclave was lie most exciting incident of that great of Samuel Tilden, and n Kelly's savage excoriation J. of nerve vas one of the most remarkable exhibitions on earth. Catcalls and rattling 1 courage ever witnessed for half an hour. Amid ipittoons drowned out Kelly awful storm he stood like an iron man; then, the _ tvd having worn itself out, he proceeded with his job Til- skinning the great New-Yorker. Next morning,

. having been nominated the night before, Kelly gave lis adhesion and was received with boundless and up- rious applause by the same crowd which had hooted before. i so outrageously the day

\. year or two after that Colonel Watterson came to lisiana, Pike County, Missouri, where I then lived, to ure. I introduced him to the audience, and after the ure I went with him to his hotel and sat up to wait b him for his midnight train, I told Colonel Wntter- that I had heard and greatly admired his speech as iporary chairman, to which he replied: Young man, I will tell you something that very few know pie about that speech, which may aid you in r career. I public was notified, unexpectedly, that I

: to be the temporary chairman. I had scarcely time write my speech, and not enough to commit it to I did not nory. want to read it, as that would have =d the effect; and, moreover, my poor eyesight for- e to my trying read it So I had a man sit behind on the staffe and rear! ir tn mo ^nt- u,r ^ *. mmatecJ lor myseit a rule, as ioiiows: 11 i write a spcccn to be delivered to a large audience, I allow myself twice as much time for its delivery as it would take to read it intelligibly to one or two persons; and, if the audience is to be n very large one and out-of-doors, I allow three times as much time. It works out according to my rule. In fact, in speaking to an unusually large audience, the speaker is compelled not only to vest between sentences, but to enunciate each word with such distinctness, and so slowly, that much more time is consumed than in read- ing or speaking to u small company. In the campaign of 1 880 I had an amusing and fortu- nate experience in debate with an able Republican friend who did not understand the aforesaid rule. I le opened in an hour and closrd in a quarter of an hour. I had an hour and a quarter between his two speeches, lie began with JcHetson and Hamilton and ambled leisurely down through our history, and bad just reached James Buchan- an's ;ulmimsiratioii when the hummer fell at the end of his hour, very much to his chagrin and (o the delight of the Democrats and the discouragement of the Republicans. The iiist money 1 ever earned was ;i silver tluvc-ccuv piece which my father gave me for blacking his shoes. The first whole dollar I ever had in my life I made in this peculiar manner. Four of us were binding wheat after an old-fashioned diop-reaper. 1 was a fast hand at that sort of work. C'onse(|iientl\', 1 had sonic Iri.snrr monk-ills every time (he le.ipcr \\elil round ihe field.

The whcal had much i ye in ii and the- rye bail a glcai deal of eigot mi it. ! pin in ihc moments which 1 could -spa iv from the wheat-binding to pulling die ergot oil' ihe rye and putting ii into the big pockets of my tow-linen (nmscvs. 1 finally '.tcemmibu-il ;i pound of iv, which I of the first ever or a daguerreotype picture myself and of me. I have had many dollars, neckties, pict- but none that I so highly prized, if myself since then, a farm in e last work that ever I did on Kentucky, David Best, nd wheat twelve days for a man named that which I eived twenty-four dollars for labor, named Frank going to school to a man Logsdcn. to 1860 is well known that the children from 1850 neither the abundance nor quality nor variety of which children have now. Nevertheless and not- amusement. We did tanding, we found sources of ave firecrackers of any sort, either small or giant, which to make noises at Christmas, but we devised making methods of our own. We could make pop- of alder stalk and whistles of pawpaw limbs. When illtng time came (and in the country hog-killing was it and enjoyable social function) we would blow up ladders, tie strings around the necks of them, and put away to dry. When the proper time came we would on them, and there would be considerable of an jion. All healthy children enjoy making a noise, g-killing was a time of joy to children. We would the tails and other titbits in the wood-fire embers, and ntil our abdomens assumed aldermanic proportions. had no beautiful sleds such as the children of this lave, but we could take pieces of plank and make Df our which own, answered every purpose of getting the hill the swiftly great desideratum in sledding, ran resiled, foot-races, turned handsprings, played rag, jumped, swam, climbed trees, swung in grapo and ;wings, alas! sometimes we fought. The word coddle was not in the bright lexicon of Kentucky Him. in uic WIUUM we wtnnu ^jeni uicm. wcensumauy we caught a mud turtle, which makes fine soup. There were no game and iish laws then to pester the hoys and men. In passing it may be apropos to state that the Inimhli: and despised mud turtle has heen promoted to the ranks of the aristocracy among crustaceans and is now shipped in car-load lots from our Western creeks and rivers to New York, Hoston, and other Eastern cities, where he is made to do duty at fancy prices as genuine diamond-back terrapin. We learned to shoot and hunrc.d such game a.s there was. When I was a hoy everybody in Kentucky could shoot, generally with a rillc. Shotguns were not much in vogue. If a man had any reputation as a rifle-shot, he scorned to shoot a squirrel anywhere except in (he !ie;id. It was the Kentucky and Tennessee squirrel hunters who wrought such fearful havoc, in Pakenham's army at: New Orleans on the glorious Hth of Jamury. Any man who would kill game wilh a .shotgun was considered a di.sii-put able poi-hunier. We hunted squir- sMI|lls rels, rabbits, quail, lacrooiis, 'p" i minks, weasels, muski HIS, and occasionally a lux. A lot of us caught, one night, .six raccoons in one tree a feat which was the talk of the neighborhood for a long time. There were plenty of 'possums, and the 'possum, when rooked the right war, baked with sweet potatoes is i he bcsi ruling in the world ;i dish lit to set beloie a king, or am'hmly else. We had no .shows and iheateis to attend, hut we had eandv-pulhngs, spelling-bees, count i}' dances, corn-shuck- nigs, log-rollings, and house-i.nsmgs. We had no chocolates and othei expensive sweetnie;ils s " iem down, no gmger caKes, oi mmmoi asses candy, abundance^' :;;7 ut we had an ^kwy suga, black h oughnuts, faple anJ both: sweet azelnuts, cider, Wfi did ^

was far ;hey had what may turn up b*.U4 bohnnittDr J of "long green. , nt out of plenty ^ea of.J enjoyme now at the we hale and U *<*&set tortn S/ as above such simple things ^ of much gen dodhop.-er., go l usty J

e

latter of Octo- ^fL!jtoonLnTnight in the part I was home I was about ten years old, gomg ber when I a cluster of persimraon-trces from church, and passing that over , Ed one of the biggest, fattest 'possums in the road and playing^ ambulated a forest lying j )3 P S and home with him, I K?bbed him by the tail wagged Next- I could do to carry him. though it was all that (( and no crowned day we had a great 'possum dinner/' or head on earth ever feasted more royally greasily. <( was much 1 was exceedingly proud of my catch, latter, consequently A am KIHH mat nc cuci not see uus story; for if anybody stated a fact about birds, animals, or fish, no matter how well established, but which he (Roosevelt) did not know, he immediately yelled "nature faker" at the top of his voice, with the maximum of vehe- mence and a superabundance of expletives. Neverthe- less, it is a queer fact that while a raccoon will fight a dog any dog or any number of dogsto the death, and whip lots of them; and while an opossum will not light a clog- any clog an opossum will fight a raccoon every time he has a chance and come oft* victor about half the time. I know that's true, because when I was a boy 1 saw it clone time and again. In fact, when I had both a raccoon and an opossum captives, simultaneously, I have thrown them together to sec them light. "Cruel sport," .SO/IK: wrthcire. may exclaim. Yes, hut no more cruel than cock-fighting or dog-fighting or bcar-baiiing -sports in which our ancestors participated enthusiastically. Kvcn so illustrious a person as Andrew Jackson, of blessed and glorious memory, not only raised race-horses and ran them, belling on the resuh, hut he bred game- chickens of mill lest strain, which could lick aiu'fhmg wear- ing feathers in Tennessee. While he was President, he had sent to him from (he Hermitage a lot (if chickens to be pilled against Virginia games at llladenshurg; but, alack and alas! the long irip or change of water or some- thing else so influenced ihe Hcimitage cocks thai they would not light ai all much to the disgust of the con- tjucior of (Jen. Sii Kdwaiil I'akcnham and tlic veterans of tile Peninsular War.

Strange as it ma}' seem, the name of '"Possum Policy" was given to that great political movement in Missouri, headed by (Jen. Frank P. Hlair, his cousin, (Jov, Benjamin and Colonel 1'yan, Anderson, Gov. Charles P. Johnson, in Missouri and which overthrew the Republican party upheaval and eventuated in the "Liberal Republican for President, in and the nomination of Horace Greeley

1 because the It was denominated the '"Possum Policy" low, not Democrats agreed to "play 'possum" by lying own for state offices, and nominating candidates of their "Liberal candidates, supporting the Republican" worked like a charm and made Benjamin Gratz Urown Governor. He was one of the most scholarly governors- Missouri ever had, as is attested by the fact that he wrote mental recreation. a book on higher mathematics as a Another thing from which we extracted some pleasure was a shooting-match, for turkeys and fresh beef. We but it us not only got amusement out of it, helped keep in trim as rifle-shots considered a great accomplishment at that time and place, though now not so highly prixccl as formerly more's the pity. I am aware that some very good people frowned on the shooting-match, hut- nevertheless most men and boys regarded it highly ami cherished it as an innocent pastime, which I think it was. Another great sport was the cutting down of bee-trees'. Some of those big, tall Kentucky poplars contained an amazing quantity of honey of the finest quality. The way we youngsters feasted on such joyous occasions is extremely pleasant in the retrospect through the vista of years. Still another most delightful function was "stirring oil'" maple sugar by night in the sugar camp. It was a great lark for men and women, boys and girls. Tbm- ncvrr was invented in this or world, discovered, a more enjoy- able sweetmeat than maple sugar. What a pity it is thai- I 1 ' 1 * |iiii.-iiL im iiuiLillUMi lliapiu MlgUl. A lie secures his patent: and gets by or through the restric- tions of tin- Pure Food laws. If so, lie will be a public benefactor. Kven Lueullus never ate anything more de- licious than maple syrup and hot cakes. It was a delight to get out at night in the woods with a pack of hounds and chase the: game until we wore so tired we could hardly drag ourselves to bed. It: was always a great event in the life of a country boy when he was considered old enough to go out with the hounds. He knew then that he was verging close onto manhood. Lord Hymn says:

1 'Tu Mvtrt to IIIMF the uMtch-dtiK !! honest bnrk

li.iy drrp-mmuli'd wi-loum* ;in wi- draw iu-;u home.

He was c-niiivly correct, and he might have added tnnhfullv thai their is no sweeter music to a healthy hov's ear than tin- voice of a pack of hounds in full cry ;ii nighi, in a I'uieM piimrval. I heard, when 1 was a hoy, Moses K. I. .ml. one of the mosl t'KumelU of American preacher-, s.i\- ili.il in the pulpit, and he was entirely cur- jrci in .'." spf.ikmg. My lust \',\v.\\ '.niiuw was ih;ii \vlu-n I was a snv.ill boy some nf i IK- ncij'.hhniH tunk m\* dog Ranger, pa it slirphc id .nul p. IK hull-lei lid, and .shoi him to (Ic.uh on

;i tuim]M'd'ilp I'h.iU'.c n( kllliuf, shrrp. 1 Was ullrily dis- constil.iif I<)| Mi.tiu d,iv. anil never did furgivr thu.sr men.

1 hi-irbv iiiimdiiiT. a-, mv M-nimiencs, Senator (Ieoi|;c

\t .('. bt.tiuiUil Oi.it ion il\r 1 I\ (iijh.im on Doj ,. was ilcliveiril hclun .1 Mi'.Miun jmy in a l.iwsuit involving a ilng;

( ll 1.1 ll . M I.I Ml N (-1 I III p I'Y. 'I In- I" -.1 lH'-lltl .1 it ll.c. Ill (Ili Wnrld become traitors to their faith. happiness and our good name, may lose. It flies from him The money that a man has he may away be sacrificed in when he may need it most. Man's reputation may who arc to fall a moment of ill-considered action. The people pronu success is with us he the on their knees and do us honor when may failure settles its cloud first to throw the stone of malice when upon a our heads. The one absolutely unselfish friend man may have in the one that this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, never is the proves ungrateful or treacherous, dog. in Gentlemen of the jury, a man's dog stands by him prosperity in Me will on the and poverty, in health and sickness. sleep cold snow drives ground when the wintry winds blow and the fiercely, if will kiss the h.ind only he may be near his master's side. He that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encoun- ter with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep (if his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take WHIRS and reputation falls to pieces, lie is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens. If fortune drives the master forth an outcast into the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him, to guard him against danger, to fight against his enemies, and when the last scene of all comes, and death takes his master in its embrace and his body i laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by his graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws and his eyes sad, but open, in alert watchfulness faithful and true, even unto death.

of Senator Vest's Apropos Eulogy on the Dog, it is a fact that while queer that gem of oratory is frequently and more quoted frequently referred to, his masterful orations, which were numerous and on many subjects, and of the most approved order of full excellence, of wit i humor, sarcasm, and have been eloquence, .sadly neglected by those editing collections of speeches. He was a giant on the and had no stump superior as a debater in the benate, but it looks as though his clog speech is the one winch w,ll transmit his fame as an orator to comimr KODcrt ooutney uoes 10 ins poems, ooutncy wrote sev- eral long epics on which ho believed that his fame would rest, but nobody reads them. lie is kept in memory as a poet by such minor productions as "The Battle of Blen- heim," "How Docs the Water Come Down at Lodorc?" and "Mary, the Maid of the Inn." Many years after they killed my dog I had the pleasure of securing an opinion from the St. Louis Court of Appeals, after a hot fight, to the effect that a man in Missouri can be compelled to pay damages for killing a valuable dog. That's the rule in Missouri now, and it gave me a vast deal of pleasure to secure that decision. It avenged my dog, slain when I was a barefooted hoy in Kentucky. A Kentucky boy who would not run a horse-race when he had a chance was considered too slow and spiritless ever to amount to much and was dubbed a "sissy." There was no talk among the boys with whom I associ- ated about "athletics." We were athletes by force of circumstances and gloried in the fact when life was young. Though our heads are blossoming as the almond-tree, we glory in the recollection of it yet. We extracted much pleasure out of the mere fact of living and in performing our labors and in practising our rude sports. We might almost have appropriated as a description of ourselves, with a change in latitude and longitude, Tennyson's lines in "l.ockslry Hall" about certain hoys created by bis poetic fancy:

l, suyiplv-Mnew'd, they Mull (live, ;iml they sh:ill run, Catch tin- wild poat l>y the lt;tir, and hull their lances jn the Mill; Whistle hack the parrot's fall, and leap the rainhow.s of tlic brook.-;, Not wit!) Minded eyesight puiinj* over mist-rahlc bookfi.

n. devilish tough!" and so were we Kentucky Doys pnysi- cally, of course. of the St. Louis Court of Judge William H. Biggs, of the reason Appeals, gave this philosophical explanation were and rohustcr why preceding generations stronger than the men and women of to-day. He said: "In the old times, children were reared under such hard conditions that all the weak and delicate ones died and only the fittest and strongest physically survived." Perhaps the judge was correct. Who knows? Whether Judge Biggs was right or wrong, the Kentucky boys who survived grew into lusty, strapping big men. Col. Theodore Roosevelt, in his Life of Col, Thomas Hart Benton, says that by actual measurement the Kentuckians were the largest men in the Union Army. The chances are that they were also the largest among the Confederates. Limestone accounts for it. They eat it, drink it, breathe it. Sleigh-riding, now unhappily out of fashion to a large was a extent, favorite winter sport. When the snow car- the earth and frost peted was in the air, we all tried it. Of course we had no fine sleighs as the city chaps ha vi- and no sleigh-bells. Instead we used cow-bells to warn folks that we were coming. We made our own slngli.s out of poles and a few of pieces plank or slabs. I laving the "beautiful snow" and his rude sleigh, a young man would take his best girl and make love to her bi-iu-alh tin- snows and full starsdeep moons were great aids to the matrimony among rustics and what was ln-st of all those marriages generally lasted so long as life cnduix-d. Divorces were rare and divorce courts idle. Part of my duties in for working Call was to feed thirty young mules and an old blue donkey named Taylor,* in honor of "Old Rouen ami P M ,1 1 r n w'. the thirty mules and the thirty mules the corn lor laylor. Just as I was sitting down to breakfast by candle-light, it flashed across my mind that I had exchanged their rations, and I hot-footed it to the barn. Taylor had eaten ten ears of corn and was beginning on tlie eleventh, with appetite unappeascd. If 1 had not remembered in the nick of time, Call would have been minus one donkey before set of sun. The moral: Feeding donkeys and mules and wrestling with mathematics arc incompatible operations. The almost universal habit of rural Kentucky boys was to go barefoot from about the middle of April to the middle of November. A majority of the girls did likewise. This habit had two results larger fret and stone-bruises. Those 1 who never sullered from scone-bruises have herd exceedingly fortunate, as I can testify from experience. They never kill anybody, but they cause howling, loss of sleep, and much profane .swearing. Nothing that I know of is so painful unless it be acute neuralgia. To those who trip into a sum- and in a few moments purchase a pair of handsome, well-lit ling shoes, it will be a surprise in learn how country folks were lined out with foot-gear in that far-away day among the Keimickv hills. Along early in the fall the head of tin- family would buy the leather sullincni to furnish one pair of shoes to each of bis household, or, in the case of t he men and tin- larger boys, a pair of Imois one pair each and no incur. Then he would c-mplov an itinerant shoemaker to conic to his house with the implements of his tiaile to work up (he leather goods. ( )f course a hor who .spotted rrp boot-, was the envv of all his less Inttun.ile neighbors. Those fairly well-to-do purchased their Sunday footwear fioin an established shoemaker or at the stoic. 'I his was done *"*' "* J * narnPLUIt auiu^ /> r r of fine cus- the owner of a paswear- ing that it was bad luck, and he ordered me peremptorily to go around the house. The performance appeared to me to be so utterly preposterous that I grinned in his face and started ahead on the way I was going, lie was rushed blazing mad, toward me, shaking his fist, that vowing somebody would die, and that unless I turned back he would lick me, good and plenty. Hy that time dander was I my up. lowered my pitchfork and said: itiiu JL wuiiL vm my vviiy Liiuiu|Jiuuiuy. The belief in the bad luck attaching to the number thirteen is widespread and persistent. I care nothing about it, would as lief sleep in room thirteen as any other, and would not object to belonging to the "Thirteen Club." But I fully recogni'/e the fact that thousands, perhaps millions, of more or less intelligent people regard thirteen as a hoodoo, and that it is well to pay some attention to other people's whimsicalities. The morning after Joseph Wingate Folk was nominated for Governor of Missouri I invited him, together with his wife and some other friends, to take breakfast with me in the up-stairs dining-room of the Union Station in St. Louis. When we were seated at the table, .somebody in great trepidation whispered to me that there wore thirteen of nsl I counted tlie company, and sure enough there wore thirteen, one of whom was a reporter for The Globe- Democrat) a Republican organ. I didn't: care a straw about the number, but. I (lit! not propose to give that bright Globf-Dftnncrat reporter a chance to handicap Folk with the .story that he was beginning his race under the thirteen hoodoo. So T quietly excused myself and went down to the lower lloor, where usually I would sec from one to fifty acquaintances, in order to pick up a four- teenth member for my breakfast-party, but, strange to relate, not an acquaintance was in sight. A strapping big good-looking policeman, whom I had never clapped on eyes before, .sauntered along, swinging liis billy. I accosted him, ;nul to his evident surprise invited him to breakfast, lie asked me the wherefore of (he invitation.

I told him that that was none of his business and that it was enough for him to know that he would get a cracking feed good free, in recherche company, and that it would 111. fl flt/rtf f- t>wt I F.. iir,,.i1,1tt'* .- . Ml T ,.,.1.1 I.'.. father was his fine saddle- six years old: my dolling up horse named Traveler. I was much interested in the him where he was He process and asked going. replied: for "To hear Judge Harbour make a speech James Buchanan, who is running for President." As about the of that era first thing a Kentucky boy ever knew ahout was a horse-race, and supposing that Buchanan's "run- ning for President" had some connection with "the sport of kings/' I expressed the childish hope that he would have as fine a mount as Traveler. My father kindly explained to me that candidates for the Presidency did not run horses, but rode on railroad trains which ran twenty or thirty miles an hour. He evidently had momentarily forgotten his patron saint, Andrew Jack- son, and his famous horse, Truxton. The next lesson in my political education was the tre- mendous hullaballoo made about a hrilliant hut almost beardless boy named John Young Hrown heating a vei- evan statesman, Joshua Jcwett, for Congress, in iH^), Brown, being only twenty-four, could not he sworn 'in until the second session of the Congress to which he was elected. Many years after he served two or three ii-rms m the House, finally achieving the Kentucky governor- When he ship. defeated Jewett he was acclaimed a wonder and was the resounding theme of every Kentucky As a matter tongue. of fact, he was a hrilliant and ahlc man.

I take It that if few, any, of his admiriiiR constituents knew that Wilham P.tt the Younger was 1'mnicr ,f Great Britain at and twenty-four, that at that a K e his famous nval, Charles James Fox, was a seasoned veteran

USC, Ul OL. AAJUli), itlllUll^ UICI11, UilVC UUCIl ClCCtCCl CO 2 House before they had attained the constitutional i

John Randolph of Ronnokc never had any beard, so looked younger than be really was; looked so young, fact, that when bo presented his credentials the clerk the House asked him bow old be was. The fiery and jghty Virginian tartly replied; "Go ask the people o sent me to Congress," and there the conversation s dropped, suddenly. CHAPTER II

l.m.K-kcq.inu Children of my father ami moilin-MarriaRC-CliiUrcn-Karly CJcimvitvc s wultlinK 1U nnai ICMNH tit -Twelve thousand people attend of to children Hmli <>f my uumlsim ride on a Jersey cow Value ponies him u fine n( Mr. celebrated by ihc House-It makes iwwniKiiulncH Hotline's tender amck J lie dear Mann, the republican leader Tom

little boy's death.

TWO GIRUS AND A HOY

father and mother, three children uric bom. my " TOThey were Margaret, whose pet name w;is Peggie," which was generally shortened to "Peg." Slu- was horn in 1848 and died a short time before I was born, on

March 7, 1850. I never had a brother, which I have regretted ;ill of my days. My other sister, Elizabeth, was born Mairh q, iHt;2. married the She Rev. J. J. Haley, a prominent prraduT and writer in the Church of the Disciples, sonu-rimcs called the Christian Church, or sometimes the (\impbell- ite Church. They now live at Santa Cruv., California. She began teaching school when she wus only ihiiu-t n, as elsewhere I while, stated, began u-achinn bi'foiv I w;is fifteen was the we had to even ; ^That only way make the minimum amount of money, eked our l>y what liitlc our father could give us out of his meaner earnings, in order to obtain an education. She taught ai int rivals till 1 when she 874, married Brother Haley. Tlu-ir honey- moon trip was to Sydney, Australia, where- Hnnln-i I lah-y was to bp nasfnr nf t-lip Kirrrr^ci ^^,,. .: r .1. M: vania University and subsequently president of Mocker Female College. His friendship has rested on me like a benediction all my life. When we were struggling to get an education my sister and I helped each other all we could and did good team- work. When she had money and I needed it, I got it; and when I had any and she needed ir, she got it. Of course, neither of us nor both of us ever had much, as rural school-teachers, not only in Kentucky, bur every- where, were poorly paid in those days. While the situa- tion has much improved lately, they are not well enough compensated, even yet. In many cities and towns police- men are paid more to crack skulls than teachers arc paid to form the minds of children. My sister has done a noble work in the world has worn herself out at if --and has been foremost in charity and pood deeds-. She has helped many a pour, friendless hoy and girl in the light for a better and larger life. As her reward, she has the love and benedictions of thousands in Australia, Midland, America, and New /mlaml, in all of which count ties she proved a wise, unselfish, and valuable helpmeet for her husband- a blessing to his parishioners. On the i.|th of December, |MSi, I was married to Miss (lenevit-ve Davis Bennett, of Callaway County,

Mis.snuii. Her father, whom I never knew, was from Madison County, Kenturky, and bis aiieestou; were from

Maivland. Her mother, one of tlie finest wunu n I ever saw, was a kenluekiaii named McAfee, wlitiM- mother was

1 a Hamilton. I hev weir the eailjcst in anionj ; settlers Meicet County, Kentucky, having conn- in with Daniel

Booiie. I hey cnnst it ut eil a laij^e and powerful el. in.

\Vlii-M I \\-nv :i m ir :i 1 1 vd r \-niiiin in i n n -i iiu-d Minnie one-third of the in McAfee who is blood-kin to people at least, father was the county." On that occasion, my a P McAfee, fought under My wife's grandfather, George under at Harrison at the River Thames and Jackson of the house she is New Orleans. On her mother's side to Gen. Robert R. McAfee, Lieutenant- closely related Governor of Kentucky and Envoy Extraordinary and the South American Minister Plenipotentiary to one of also to Davies, who died a hero's death states, Joseph ^ four at Tippecanoe and for whom three or counties arc named; also to Dr. John McAfee, father of Park College, Missouri. On her father's side she is a cousin to Gov. James Bennett McCreary of Kentucky. We have had four hale, hearty, handsome children horn to us Little Champ and Anne Hamilton-hoth of whom died in infancy, Bennett Champ, formerly tin- parlia- mentary clerk of the House and afterward a colonel in our army Jn France, and Gcnevievc, wife of James M. Thomson, publisher of The New Orleans Item. We have been very happy in our children. Neither of them has given me a moment's trouble. A sweet: baby is the greatest luxury in nature. When Hemierr was twenty years old he was delegate to a state convention and stumped my Congressional District for me, making as many speeches as he could without too much m^U'CimR his duties at the University of Missouri, where he was then a student. The people treated him very generously and him praised very enthusiastically, a fact of which I was proud, and for I indeed, which was profoundlv Krari-- ful. We have it from highest authority that the sins of the father are visited the upon children. 1 rejoice in the fact that the affection bestowed upon* the father some- j- , I i 1 * *. to secure a tootnokl at the overcrowded bar, my wile helped me out by teaching in Pike College, at Bowling Green. I milked the cow, worked the garden, carried in the wood and water, purchased the supplies, made the fires, and aided her all 1 could in the housework. She didn't know how to cook, hut by assiduous study of cook-hooks and practising their precepts she became one of the best cooks I ever knew. Those were happy clays in a little four-roomed cottage, notwithstanding our extreme poverty. She is an old-school Presbyterian, the church of her family since the days of Calvin and Knox, while I am a member of the Disciples' Church, the church of my father and mother. She had the children sprinkled, while I went with her and helped her. Bennett was .sprinkled with water out of the River Jordan. We have- kept peace in the family by not arguing about religion. When she goes to her church 1 go along, and feel at bonus when I go to my church, she keeps me company. Our children attend both churches and arc at home in both. Bennett was born on January H, iHo,o -St. Jackson's day-- -a fart of which ho and I both arc proud. When he- was lour or live years old I owned a very old and very fine registered Jersey cow, almost a perfect ringer for Kuropa, for many yeais the champion buitcr cow of the world. Because .she was .spoiled wi i called her Pieclie. She did not give a great quantity of milk, bur what she did give was the liehcM I ever lasied. When I went to milk her, my little boy, Bcnneil, accom- panied me, cairving bis little (in cup, which I would fill with the rich, warm milk, which be drank. I don't know never tried to throw mm OH. uc uas gentle as a dog and both in America and m 1< nmcc, ridden sundry war horses ever ridden one that him so but I doubt if he has gave when a little he rode the old Jersey much pleasure as, tad, cow Piedie. . For the benefit of young fathers and mothers, 1 give it best I ever as my deliberate opinion that the money spent learned on my children was for ponies. Thereby they to ride like Indians a very useful accomplishment. It ^ and in the kept them out in the open air health-giving sunshine. It prevented their forming bad habits, and I them gave them fine bodies and perfect health. taught how to feed, curry, and saddle the ponies, which was use- ful knowledge. As soon as Bennett was strong enough to ho id up a shotgun, I bought him the best in the market and taught him how to shoot it, and he became a good wing-shot- another valuable accomplishment which gave him much outdoor recreation. When he became old enough to trust with a pistol, I got him a fine target pistol and showed him how to use it. I remembered, then, what gave the Confederates such a bulge on the Union soldiers at the beginning of the war between the Si arcs was that nearly every Southerner knew how to ride a horse and how to shoot; consequently, from the first, they made extraordinarily fine cavalrymen. In his book Destruction and Reconstruction by long odds the most classical book ever written about that war-Gen. "Dick" Taylor, son of Gen. Zachary Taylor, that at the battle says of Port Republic, when Scnm-wall Jackson defeated General Banks, they found Federal cavalrymen sitting dead on their horses. They had been strapped to the saddles so that they could not fall ofl'l Wnat (TOOQ Wfn* cnrK ^iw.,1 l i- .1 i ana cnac very niuun impioveu uicir cavairy arm or uic service. Gencvlcvc was born on Thanksgiving Day, 1894. As a matter of fact, the anniversary of her birth falls on Thanksgiving only once in six or seven years. When she was a little child she always celebrated the entire week. On the last day of June, 1915, four months before sin; was twenty-one, she was imirricd to Col. James M. Thom- son, publisher and editor of The New Orleans Item, the largest daily paper in the city, I postponed the wedding as long ;\K I could, because she was so young and not because 1 was opposed to Colonel Thomson, who is a splendid man, nn-ntally and physically. After the day was set it was ;t serious question whether to have the wedding in Washington, where it would have been more convenient and where we have a host of friends, or at Howling Green, Missouri, her childhood home. It is a town of only iwcmy-livc hundred inhabitants and therefore not well adapted tn entertain a big crowd. She selected Howling Green, s;iying that we owed it to our old neighbors and friends an opinion in which her mother, father, and brother enncurrrtl. The House of Representatives present ed her with a magnificent diamond necklace. We were pir//led about inviting our friends in Missouri. Nearly all the people in the M.ne are mn fiieiuls. The physical labor uf sending invitations to all would have been enoi mniis. and the expense colisidri .ihlr; so, after discussing il, \ve concluded thai the nnlv sensible way was for Mis. C'l.nk and me i publish a notice in the newspapers, inviting all of our Missoiui friends. While that v.as a etude pel iomv.mce ami lint recnumu'iuled in

bouk on ii winked like a for ihe\' any" enqueue, charm;

i. . . l i i :r . t. i tickets to a multitude ut non- course we sent regulation Missouri friends. on a It It was an outdoor ceremony lovely June day. before, I had bought some so happened that, several years which were some locust- lots adjoining ours, on splendid soil was rich and the trees and a few hollyhocks. The there was about a of hollyhocks multiplied until quarter an acre of them of all colors red, pink, blue, and white- on the constituting a magnificent flower-garden wedding- that sea of under two day. In the corner of color, great took locust-trees, on a raised platform, the ceremony ordeal hut I place. Mrs. Clark stood the very well, broke down and cried like a baby. If our friends had not made a neighborhood afl'air of It I don't see how we could have pulled through. They were exceedingly kind, among other things bringing in five hundred cakes some of them big as :i dishpan. The number of wedding-presents was simply ;ima/ing.

LITTLE CHAMP THE TUIKD

On Tuesday, February 13, 1917, upon motion of Repre- sentative Rausch, of Indiana, the House had resolved itself into the Committee of the Whole House for flu: con- sideration of the Pension Appropriation bill. I had given the gavel to Representative William K/ra Williams andjiad retired from the hall of the House, with Mr. Williams presiding there as chairman of the Committee of the Whole. Later in the afternoon I was notified that the- IVnsion Appropriation bill was ready for submission to the I louse, and I returned to assume the gavel, as law and parlia- mentary procedure require. But before I cntm-d the ,,! Mann, me cuuy ;iec.reuucu leacier ui uie ivcpuuneau minority, made the following remarks: "Mr. Chairman, before the gentleman from Indiana, Mr. Rauscli, moves that the committee rise, I desire to announce that I have just been informed that the Speaker is a granddaddy." That announcement was followed by hearty applause, which I heard as 1 approached the entrance door. Immediately following Representative Mann, and with characteristic enthusiasm, there arose another dangerous fighting Republican, whom I am proud to record as one of my very warm personal friends, former Speaker Joseph G. Cannon, a man past eighty-three years of age, who, in his declining years, lias been aHVctionately regarded by as all, and of whom everybody nowadays speaks of "Uncle Joe." He said: "Mr. Chairman, if I may be allowed n moment, as a granddaddy of tweniy-one years' standing, I lake, great pleasure in welcoming the Speaker to tin- camp of grand- fathers as I sometimes call them, 'old fool grandfathers.'

I know that lu- is nuaHlu-d. He is the recipient of a lv.it of the vintage of 1^52, donated by the gentleman from 1 California [Mr. Kent].' This brief speech, welcoming me lo that exclusive and world-wide aristocratic class, and by a past-master, was greeted with another round of applause.

When I entered the hall of the House and proceeded up the steps to take the gavel and resume my duties as Speaker, there was a tn-ineiulous outburst of hand- clapping and cheers from all the members present on the floor, and fiom every one in the crowded galleries, 'I lu? manifestation was so kindly, so fiatcinal, so familv-hke, lol- that I was greatly all'ecied, Inn managed to utter the i was have been, the day wnen the that first my children were born, and day this, my was born. of applause.] grandchild, [Outbursts life was as a "The other 'happiest day' in my when, the end of the student in the Kentucky University, at of us made the of first examination in Greek, four grade the lirst vic- one hundred, on a scale of 100. That was It was a tory I ever won among strangers. very happy occasion. this "From the very bottom of my heart I thank Rouse for this last evidence of its love and affection for me and mine." ANOTHER SURPRISE PARTY

Four days later, on Saturday, February 17, 1917, I was surprised, and more greatly gratified than language can express. My friends in the House had quietly pre- pared a birthday present for the new-born babe, and Representative Mann told the story in the House of Representatives, thus: "Mr. Chairman, in a sort of way this House is itself a grandfather. When Gcnevievc Clark Thomson was mar- ried, the members of the House presented her with a very beautiful wedding-present. " She is now the mother of a son, Champ Cla rk Thomson. "I think that it would be the _ very appropriate, under circumstances, for the members of the House to give to this of the grandson Speaker of the House a little present, in the form of a cup, knife, fork, and spoon. '"This I had morning Mr. Shaw bring up to the- Capitol (having received them by directions from NW York) these implements, in gold, and the gentleman from Mis- souri, Mr. and Lloyd, myself, constituting oursdvrs a " committee, went and examined thr : ,mrW 1VAI. iviaiui "If there be no objection from the members of the House, we will ;isk the members to contribute a dollar apiece; this is in order that we may make this present with an appropriate inscription," (Ik-re there was another outburst of approval and very hearty applause, and Mr. Mann added): "If then; be no objection, we will ask some of the employees of the House to go around to the members and collect the money. The articles will he displayed before they are sent away." It must he understood that, under the rules of the House, this procedure was "out of order," and ilu-iv was no prece- dent. Therefore, Representative Mann was proceeding in a parliamentary manner, by saying, "if there he no objec- tion," because, if (here had been OIK- member so inclined to have uttered the words "I object," this honor to the- Speaker and to Ins first grandchild could nor have been paid. One of my long-time frit-mis, a newspaper man who is an habitual trader ar the Library of Congress, has called my aiinuinn 10 the fact that not only is the name of my grandson primed in the Official AVcw/v/, but that it appears in the index of tin: permanent Rt'Cunl of the Sixty-fourth Congress. "WORDS HTI.V Sl'dKI'N"

Beginning with mv graduation from Bethany College, West Virginia, in iS?}, theie have been .several thousand articles published, in \\lmlr or in pan, about me, ranging all the way fiotn grossest llaiu-iv lu vilest sl.nuler. But of all these ai tides one of the kuulheM, tenderest, and the most pleasing is the ful lowing artiele written by

Thomas \ . Bndine, of The A/nV (Missouii) Mt'rcnry; .... is iu IUIUIH. *- < -- -- place, however exalted, powencss that come with an honor beyond the power of a dignity and the glow to and we know will wear both worthily. of prince or potentate bestow, him for the part, and the fine head The years have already prepared a coronation finished and with its crown of white hair speaks complete. for the first time carries According to those who know, being daddy a sense of a thrill indescribable, but it is always tempered by responsi- but once in a lifetime. A human soul is bility that comes to a man the his to mold and direct, and out of the past arises one by one of the future a multitude of ghosts of his own infirmities; out throng and the that phantoms hopes and fears that grip him temper joy should be his. Rut when, he takes his child's child in his arms for the first time, and feels the warmth of embryonic life pulsing against his own, the response is free and unfettered. He knows the years are powerless to hold him; that his will be the shifting scene out and beyond, and the sense of u direct responsibility sloughs away. With it goes forebodings and in their place come mellowed reflections of age, tempered and tender, that at worst nothing is quite so had as it seems. Baby hands, baby arms, and baby chatter holt! him in thrall, ;md he submits. And in a new-found joy there comes to him, perhaps, a foal sense of those values that endure. So be it then* is a liuU: child to take him by the hand and lead him down the twilight ways; so hu it there echoes in his ears from dawn to dusk the music of a dnld'ti laughter, and in his heart he hugs the image of one who loves him, not because he is "Mr. President," but just "Grandad," pri-atcr than any President can ever to what matters it if hope be; no livt-iicd l-.ivU-y stands attendance? Of what moment arc the hinged knees that In-ml that thrift follow may fawning? How quickly even the false ftic-iid and the Wow in the dark become powerless to hurt, and how (pnVkly the and circumstance pomp of place, and all shallow praise and empty resolve adulation, themselves into the trifles that they are. The bond between an old man and his child's child is om- uf tlmsr mysterious recompenses that steal into his life at the sunset hour and make it No holy. other relation in life is more beautiful or mon- satisfying. It is all the more so because it seeks out hi R h and Uv alike, and finds its into hovel and way palace, .speaking that umvrrsa! kinship m blessedness which abides beyond power and politics-, and is unlettered oi place or circumstance. So here's love to Mr. you, Speaker, and in Missouri a Vft firu- - - J svmoat iv. Ynn t- ^u he as great a man as grandad hut this is not saying that to be buth isn't worthy of any man's ambition.

My grandson was dove-loping both mentally and phys- ically, according to our fondest hopes and deepest affec- tions; hut November I, 1919, the awful, the crushing news came that our bright, handsome, lovely hoy was dead. All our hopes, all our plans, all our dreams of a splendid and useful career for him were shattered. My friend, Hon. Frank W. Morulell, Majority door leader, announced his death in the House, in words full of temlcrest sympathy. The House, which had wel- comed the news of his birth with glad acclaim, sincerely mourned his departure. His body lay in state in the parlors of the Congress Halt Hotel. Everybody was kindness itself, The lobby and parlors were full of the little fellow's friends. We laid him to rest at Charlestown, West Virginia, in the burial lot of his father's family, under a mountain of flowers contributed by his friends in all the ranks of life, from President Wilson to the bell-boys, chambermaids, and elevator-girls in the hotel. Universally beloved in life, he is universally beloved in his grave. CHAPTER in

My first scIiookeadicrs M ]Mor n tucky S0ld,'ers an(] W and (t Pl " nd o lUw , of old aml '^ m uV" ,

^

, a th aver ^.P^ician and "Kc ;l surgeon-^ ^o n f^T . y ^mewhat of a is tlf "<'* rorgSj?'""^M 'cd 1",'' startmg i n the '^ thc f Civil Wnr , i thai-

" t ''' Woolford's 1 Mlr "' celebrated F(rs Ken LT''nU f Promoted fit to 7 M Cav brig , !"? 'n', he . Je on ^ , , it WM d S^e t icn ^ ^.^ ^geon. u^g ' Ambers could notno thal CI"'"li be , I T' "'"Kli of in *Pt on.the 08"'"' for eve of . r bftt e I, *' P , c p nts f( the --pS, w /.i coi' t Ulonel,t rtjos^ lls|;'--'i y mto the Woolford, as well ^" /i,,|, r

the Michigan looked woollord s regiment over ana berated him severely by reason of the unmilitary appearance of himself and men. At last the rough-and-ready old moun- taineer lost his patience and his temper, and with a great oath and in bud grammar he yelled in the inspcctor- gencraPs face: "Me and my men are not much on primp- ing up and we did not come down here to steal niggers, but you draw up your two best Michigan regiments, and if we don't run them out of Tennessee before sun down I'm a Chinaman 1" That proposed contest never eventuated. It is said that Wool ford's favorite orders to his men were: "Huddle upl" and "Scatter out!" Not classical, surely, but they understood and obeyed their beloved colonel. Colonel Woolfurd and Gen, John II. Morgan, the beau sabreitr of the Confederates, were old friends, having served together in the, Mexican War. Their commands were frequently pitted against each other in fierce encoun- ters, but according to Gen. Basil VV. Duke, Morgan's second in command, they formed a sort of affection for each oilier. In one battle Morgan captured Woollord and begged the old colonel to give his parole, which he positively refused to do, saying: "My buys will recapt- ure me before dark" -which they did. Jn Morgan's famous raid through Indiana and Ohio, Colonel Wool ford was in the pursuing army. He was present when General Morgan surrendered. The com- manding general, also a Kentuckian, began to denounce Morgan bitterly, whereupon Colonel Woolford said to his superior ollicei : "General, General Morgan is a prisoner of war, an ollicer, and a gentleman, and must be treated as such." Morgan, who w;is ;i great dandy :is well as a skilful lighter, stooped down, pulled till' a pair ol gold- tor some time ana will not have much use for these spurs the flower of I" I present them to you, Kentucky chivalry are a lion- Most assuredly the Kentuckians generous, of a hat and hearted race, ready to fight at the drop drop it themselves. Colonel Woolford, as brave a soldier as ever rode to for our was battle, as true a patriot as ever fought flag, cashiered and dismissed from the service because he made colored speeches denouncing the project to enlist men. He offered to enlist as a private in his own regiment, but the authorities would not have it. Subsequently he rep- resented his district for two terms in Congress. When I was six years old I began my educational training under his regimental surgeon, and when I was nineteen I studied German at Transylvania University under another of his officers, Major Helvetii. In 1910, forty-eight years after I watched the seven homeguards charge Morgan's cavalry at Mackville, I had a queer experience about General Morgan, growing out of my penchant for talking about him and Woolford, Harlan, Bramlett, Rousseau, and others. A man named Bland was the Republican nominee for Congress in the Vincennes district of Indiana, against my Democratic friend, Judge William A. Cullop. One night I spoke at Vincenues in aid of Cullop's candidacy. Mrs. Cullop told me that Bland argued in his speeches that Cullop ought not to be elected because he would vote for me for Speaker, and that 1 ought not to be elected Speaker because I had said that Gen. John H. Morgan was a handsome man. It was a thing incredible that any man should make such an argument, and I could not refrain from a shot at him at taking point-blank range, next day, in a speech in his home town. When I came to the right place, I thus addressed the lar&e audience: "Mr. Bland 11UL to be elected to that position the second highest in the American gift of the people because I once said that the dashing Confederate cavalry leader, Gen. John II. Morgan, was a handsome man I I plead guilty to that crime, if crime it be. Precisely what I did say was that General Morgan was one of the handsomest men that ever straddled a horse, and I told the truth. I will not deny the truth even to elect Judge Cullop to the House and myself Speaker thereof. There art,- many old Union soldiers here to-day and I submit to them this question: Was it necessary for u man to be uglv as a mud fence or original sin in order to qualify as a Confederate soldier? I will tell you as an ofl'set to Mr. Wand's preposterous argument, a beautiful short story about: a galhint Union officer, Gen. John lleattic, of Ohio. Shortly after tin: Civil War, at a reunion of Union soldiers, OIK- of them shook hands with General IJcattie, and said, with much enthusiasm; 'General, j'ou are (he handsomest man I ever saw on a horseP Whereupon General Heatiie re- plied: 'You certainly never saw (he Confederate Gen. John C. Breekenridge on a horse!" a generous and gracious compliment for a general of one army to pay to a general of the opposing ainiv! Judge ye this day betwixt the .sense and taste of Mr. Hland and General Hcattie." The Union veterans yelk-d with delight and Judge Cullop was (viumphaiuly elected. I do not believe my speech did it, hm I am couiulrm (bat ii did nut injvirr him. Apropos of (lenrral Hrerkenvidge's personal appear- ance, 1 never saw him on hoi.selurk, but he w;is the handsomest man, the most majeMic huniitu bring, 1 c-ver mien ne exclaimed: r I am an extinct volcano I" When I was a small boy my father talked a about ere .it deal Breckenndge One day I nsked him what a ort of looking man Breckenndge was. He replied: "He '*i. larce. ta L hnmlcnivm , , -,.1. _ . .

' " some .nan, and after the w ar pr ?Uc th

tough !"'!" big as a walnut knol) on it

books an "

t(l makt! ' believe th feud, tl "' il to ?aineers, which is a thc '"""- fable ' Cm not "''' mountainous asinRto,, County river f bottoms Cwk ' ^

o " . 'R C,,,,lu. , ny , Mundy g^ i f Coultersouters icrclnaftc were So .^ntK,nol. All In he wre stanch Un his cousin, Hurvc Pnither, courted the same girl. She preferred Prat her. They were married in harvest-time, 1863. As was then the custom in rural Kentucky, the wedding was about noon, followed by a feast that Lucul- lus would have envied. Fur some reason, J.evi Coulter attended the wedding and participated in the wedding dinner- -perhaps to show that he harbored no malice, and perhaps lor the purpose of revenge. Whatever may have been his motive, hero's what happened: after dinner die men were out in the yard, dialling and smoking, when the newly made bridegroom, llarve Pvaihur, and his rival cousin, Levi Coulter, got into a o.uaucl. Coulter was standing with his back to a plank, fence, all the planks except the three lower ones being broken oil', Prnthcr, a larger and stronger man, knocked him over the fence and then got on top of him to beat him up. C'oulrcr got his pistol out and shot Prathcr through the heart, killing him insi anil)'. The IVathets lived on a gravel road about two miles from Willishurg. The Coulters lived on the same gravel mad about half a mile nearer to Vv'illi.sburg, the house being on a slightly higher ground than the Pralhrr house. l''rom the up-sr.iirs south window of the Coulter house one could observe what was jv'iuji, on on (he Pi.ithcr premises, Levi Coulter knew enough ahum his 1'iaiher cousins to know that ilu-y \\ould "get" him if he did not "get" them liist. So, two or lluee days, after the de.itl) ol 1 (a i v< y, L( vi was at (hat up-M an s .south \vmdo\\ \s at fil- ing piocredmgs at the Pi.ilher place, wlx-l) he saw Ilai- vey's twin hioiher \ViIh.un, and tin- him! hand, moiini their bmses and, each with a double-barreled .shoiguii acio.s;; the pommel of Ills saddle, si. HI to Willi.shuig. So be dcsc'riulci lioin its luoLoni. i mirc.ilcii Inmsrll' in :i ^ icw lacer i,evi ana uaj-s fas tattler, old lorn Coulter h g S) Wel e engagecl in '!f i ing wheat.wlflVT had^f\laid theirr They revolvers and shotjtuns on convenient near-by stumps. After a while they looked up and saw several well-armed men approaching Levi recognized them as the remnant of the Prather clan and heir-a l,e and Sj havng no doubt as to what to they"fd him, ran for his dp weapons, swearing that he d.e wou M fighting; but his father persuaded him to s rrelder that ,t was ' arguing the constable with a * M "<, ^

lers -^iffrvSsffinl but lei he apt to "d was >; g Ci J,lls ^ l 7 n " they rode into lcroi"' SpriifieM ? n t\ I , wunds, woods, t,ed k hlm him to a 1 out "" the tree a )' , , an7 Sl h Undr ' "*""% of bullets making su, i:V "l r , Of Whittern's arithmetic class, one was voted a gold medal by Congress for heroic conduct on the field, one was killed fighting valiantly under Quantrcll, one was wounded under Banks at Mansfield, the Prather twins were killed in a private feud, Levi Coulter, who killed them, became a fugitive from justice, and the youngest member became Speaker of the House of Representatives. While Whittern, being a professional phrenologist, claimed that he could tell what was inside his pupils' heads by feeling the bumps on the outside of their heads, luckily he was not blessed with prophetic powers, and could not predict their futures. Otherwise there would have been some long faces in his little school. The best school-teacher who ever taught me was a strolling Knglish phrenologist named Charles R. Whit- tern, for whose memory I have profound nllectiou. My father induced him to teach for three months a subscrip- tion school in the neighborhood, and, rinding that he was a splendid teacher, father and others induced him to teach in that vicinity for more than a year. In fact, he taught utuil IK- died. I thought then thai he knew every- thing. 1 know now that he did not know very much, but what lie did know he could teach better than any other man that: 1 ever .saw. As heiwecn a teacher who knows little but can incite in his pupils a love of learning and one who knows :i jrcat deal and has not the power to incite tb.il love of learning, I prefer the former. He is by far the moie valuable of the two. VVbitiern built up a greav reputation for leaching amhmrtic, and a lot of grown men came to school. 1 was a litile. like, only

1 ten years old, but I could ouiliguu any of ilu-m, and those bearded men made a giv;it pet of me. To show the two or three montns to UCLJUU and make a Christian to go to Bacon College, Kentucky, to into the Union Armv. He at last preacher, or go enlisted in die decided in favor of the army and Tenth commanded Col. Kentucky Union Infantry, by John of Marshall Harlan, afterward Mr. Justice Marian the States. At the hattlc of Supreme Court of the United was the first man to Jonesboro, before Atlanta, Young the Confederate and place the Union flagon breastworks, for so Congress voted him a gold medal doing. General Sherman offered him a captaincy, which he declined. Another man in that arithmetic class, named Ninirod Hendron, served in the Fourth Kentucky Infantry and was under General Banks in bis unfortunate expedition up the Red River, in Louisiana. Hcnclron was wounded at Mansfield, where Banks was badly defeated hy Gen. "Dick" Taylor, son of President Zachary Taylor. A third member of that arithmetic class was named Isaiah Colter. There were so many Isaiah Colters in that vicinity that they called him "Big Zay." He stood six feet six in his stockings, had jet-black hair, was about the complexion of an Indian, and was straight as an arrow- -altogether one of the finest of manhood in ^ specimens Kentucky- which is saying a great deal. He was one of tin- chiefs of what was known as the "Sue Mumly" hand of ^uenillas. When Quantrell, of Kansas-Missouri celehritv, received his death-wound at the battle of Hloonifield/Kcniuckv, was shot "BigZay" through and through wiih a Sprin'u- field-carhine ball. He made one of his friends run n silk handkerchief through his body with a ramrod and lie knots at both ends of the wound. Then lie mourned a magnificent thoroughbred stallion Mon K in K i<> ihe cele- brated Alexander stock-farm in Wooclford Couiuv, and rode twenty miles tn hie -,,', i A "i ana aica. "Sue Mundy's" real name was M. Jerome Clark, son of Gen, Hector M. Clark and a first cousin to Beverly Leonidas Clark, a Representative in Congress and Minis- ter to Guatemala. Jerome Clark served three years in the Confederate Army and his captain, James K Cantrell, of Gen. John H. Morgan's cavalry, subsequently a dis- tinguished jurist and father of Representative James Campbell Cantrell, said that young Clark was one of his bravest and most trusted scouts. The accident of being so badly wounded ,\t the battle of Cynthiana, during Morgan's last raid into Kentucky, that it was necessary to leave him behind, together with the impossibility of joining his command, changed him into a guerrilla. The sobriquet of "Sue Muncly" was "given to him in fun by his comrades at a May Day festival they were holding while in camp. On account of his smooth, girlish-looking face and long, black, wavy hair, which he, permitted to grow down on his shoulders, they crowned him Queen of the May and gave him the name of 'Sue Mumh',' so he adopted this name through the remainder of his "life." lie enlisted as a Confederate -soldier at Camp Cheat- ham, in Robertson County, Tennessee, when scarcely sixteen, and was hanged by the Federal authorities at Louisville before lie was twenty-one. When Young, my classmate aforementioned, enlisted, an amusing thin;; happened. A man named Squire Land, to whose sister-in-law Young was engaged, went with Young to Lebanon to take the horses hack home. Land was much in the habit of violating King Solomon's inhi- bition against looking too long on the wine when it is red in the cup -in bis case Kentucky bourbon- -;iml upon "unbeknownst" to himself. Next when . morning Land awoke and found m uniform and duly he said enlisted, that it was all and that he would do anything a soldier was ord do except charge breastworks, which he swore he not do, as he cons,dered it an idiotic and ' inluMnar"

charge breast, i 1*0 had

11 " 1 will never 1 I forget what 1 1 'SI"! '","' '? ,"> ^- age of V> d I rival the Methuselah-for amonS"mon odlern,f ?H men shot. things I saw four

, m&SXVZ^^'*full

er a ut tw and mom o ? n 8 " 8nd "" Finally, how r eve ' heh"" across ra " to a bis , t JI a sna al.ee ako private cob's in^C ^nding1' J 010 Tenth "^'1 to Kentucky UniJVn-n C Colone most y V , ; Voteau bawled; "The bell you arc! Where's your pis- tol?" Sallee answered very quickly: "I have none, but you wait here a few minutes and I will lincl a man who has one." If I had acted with wisdom 1 would have departed instanter; but as it was my iirst observation of election proceedings, I proposed to see all there was to he seen and hacked up into a store door to watch develop- ments. They came with such a rush as to satisfy even the most fastidious. Soon here came the original soldier, Sallee, shaking his huge list at Voteau, and his two broth- ers, privates in the same regiment to which he belonged, in full uniform, with HealPs navies in their hands. Not a word was said. Voteau hopped right out into the middle of the street and opened lire on them, and they returned the lire. lie wounded two of them, then turned and ran for a hundred yards in such time as neither Ten Brook nor Molly McCavty could have excelled. Exit Kyar Votcau. I went down the stive t three or four blocks, where a stunning private of Rousseau's Louisville Legion, who had received a Minie ball in his shin and was home on furlough, was rngagrd in an alter- cation wiih a ciii/en named Richardson. Nicholson went at Richardson with a bowie-knife and Richardson shot at him wiih the last: "pepper-box" pistol 1 ever saw, all six bands going oil' at once, as usual. The shots missed Nicholson and hit an innoci-iii bystander in the leg. That day is memorable in my life for another reason- because tlu-n 1 lirsv saw and braid a piano. Iv was in Squire John Hosier's house and was played by his daugh- ter. Delighted with the music, 1 perped through the window KI see the marvelous instiumeni. and the beautiful manipulator Uu-K-ol. Since that 1 have heard "Blind y " re ',,'.." ""J -iu loue it o at first and bravely then ran like a race-horse. At C he sent hi. children to school to me. After I became we enough acquainted with him to < swap pistols with him one day I said: I Kyar, have been curious to know wlw you those fought Sallees so bravely on Election

It ' also establishes aior ' the fact that whil? jr., v Votoau somewhat of a swa ^ was n of

D i ? m the .rf belief that Philosopher,

who fights and runs away live to fight some other day-

all of which old my friend did.

of S ouisville lc '' in Legion. A f Rnusscau's MniS U , , his ' Ch.ckamauga'and he wa shi :lt t'me home o^"' fur^" there was no rlouel1 - At th i saCn SU 'M , but :i named Perkins cl'?' Ntw York He condS 4^; t thir"y " on a kn ow blind '!:" ?,* " * "a blind pig,"6 , " nt, a dead-fall," or "n ' drank until they were in a very hilarious mood. Then they demanded more bottles of hitters from Perkins, which he declined to produce for fear of the grand jury, as he alleged. That did not satisfy Tom, so with a bowie- knife he went at Perkins, who shot Tom through the body with a pistol. Perkins was duly arrested and arraigned before Squire John Boslcy for preliminary examination. Perkins em- the famous to ployed J. Proctor Knott, orator, defend him, and Peters's folks employed "Hob" Hnrclin, after- ward Chief Justice of Kentucky, to assist the county attorncy> who was a great numskull, in the prosecution. There, in that little clingy office of a justice of the peace, those two distinguished lawyers wrestled with each other for two or three days. 1 played hooky from school to watch that trial, for, though only thirteen years old, I had determined to be a lawyer, and most assuredly I received my first lesson in the law from past-masters in the profession. The first law-hook I ever saw was in the hands of J. Proctor Knott. It was a volume of Ben Monroe's reports. I shall never forger ihe evidence of Dr. Frank Polin, a famous surgeon of Springfield, lie was railed as a wit- ness to testify as to the nature of Tom's wound, whether lie would die tit it, etc., iu order to lix the amount of bail. In answer to a question of counsel, Polin answered: "lie will gel well, appjin-ntly, will become fat as a butter-ball, and will die in less than three years from lluil bullet wnuml, turning green as grass before he dies, because he was shot through the liver!" That was my first infor- mation touching ibe fact thai a man had a liver. I was not well up in anatomy. So I watched '1 imi Triers like

l :i li:i\vk wiiirlii-K :i rliirkrii 1 1) sri* it' Dr. l 'r:mk Polin \v:\s he started overland to ^amorma in less than three and died in the Rocky Mountains often wondered whether he turned green years. I have before he died. Another reason why I observed lom so closely was and he that when first shot by Perkins _when thought he the Church death was staring him in the face joined he recovered he declined to of the Disciples; but when enunciated in the old be baptized, on the principle couplet:

When the devil was sick, the devil a monk would be; When the devil was well, the devil a monk was he.

When I was fourteen years old I clerked for three or four months in a country store owned principally by a preacher in the Christian Church, William T. Corn, a very handsome man, without very much education, but a splendid preacher and with the saving grace of humor. That was toward the end of the war, and the country was greatly infested with thieves and robbers. One time the proprietors of the store -went away and left me alone. They directed me to hide the money that I took in. It so happened that we had a good run of trade that day and I carefully wrapped up the money, all paper, and stowed it away where I did not think any thief could find it. When they returned, I went with some pride to get the money to show to them, and, very much to I my disgust, discovered that not thieves, but mice, had found the money and had bitten it into pieces so small that it was to tell the impossible denomination of a .single bill. Corn was a poor man, but he exercised his _ Christian not charity by hauling me over the coals. Nevertheless, that incident so disgusted me that my career as a mer- chant came to a sudden conclusion. tf f young, but it was the only way I had to earn money enough to go to college on, and, while I had a rocky road to travel, I hung on. ttrcaking up schools and running out the teachers was not uncommon in those lawless days, but they did not break up any of mine and they did not run me out. My chief qualification as a teacher was my physical size and strength, which stood me in Rood stead. The period of my first four or five schools was just after the close of the Civil War. A great many young men came to school to me who had seen service in the army and who were therefore much older than I was. They had enlisted during the last days of the war and their education was somewhat hularcd. Indeed, soldiers from hoth armies came to school to me. One man who hud served four years in Marian's Tenth Kentucky Union Infantry, and his daughter, were hoth pupils of mine at the same time. When I taught school at Canulen, in Anderson County, Kentucky, in 1871-72, a veteran

teacher sixty-four years old came to school i o mo to learn to read Greek so that he could read the New Testament in Greek, as he had made up his mind to investigate certain theological points in his own way. He made me a proposition thai if I would teach him Grrek one hour each day he would hear lessons for me (hive hours each day. As he was a tiptop teacher, it was :i very good arrangement for me as well as for (he pupils and their parents. The papers have had a good deal (o say about the fact (hat a certain man ami his -son were elassmaces

at the University of Missouri recently, hut 1 am rather inclined to ihink that that is no move, remarkable than that one ofHarlan'.s soldiers and his daughter came lo school to me at the same time, and that a man sixty-four vr.ars old camp to me to le.run Grerk. One dime is rer- soon I have wondered read the Greek Testament very a man his Greek so much time and again why forgets Latin. sooner than he forgets his Everett, while he was a I once asked Dr. William of that fact. At first Member of Congress, of the why was the case; but when 1 he denied flatly that such and from talking with insisted that I knew by experience this others that it was a fact, he gave amazing reply; tor own case is not to be relied on, "Well, perhaps my me to when I was my father [Edward Everett] put sleep to me in the Greek! a child by singing songs original It is safe to No wonder he never forgot his Greekl say that no other American boy ever had a similar experience with an American father. Greek was Doctor Everett's his "father "mother tongue," or, more properly, tongue," coin such a and I see if I may be permitted to phrase, no reason why I cannot do so. While teaching country schools I organized debating societies of the grown-up boys and such of the patrons as I could induce to participate. We debated such as: thrilling and important questions "There is more pleasure in pursuit than in possession." "Which is the more useful animal, the horse or the cow?" "Which was the greater man, Washington or Napo- leon?" "Which is mightier, the pen or the sword?*' "Which is the more useful, water or fire?" "Is there financial profit in being educated?" Occasionally we tackled the really important problem, "Should capital punishment be abolished?" That ques- tion is causing much debate and much legislation even now.

If r*io Hull r>t-ii/1a A, One peculiar feature of these debates was that the debaters stipulated that I should not use biographical or historical information, for even nt that early period of my life I had road all the histories and biographies I could lay my hands on. The amusing feature of the situation was that if I did not agree to be thus circum- scribed I was excluded from participating in the debate in my own debating society. That reminds me of a thing that happened in the olden time in Lincoln Countyone of the finest counties in the district which I have so long represented. Almost every one knows that the best mules in the world arc raised in Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee, It is said that when President Wilson sent our army and navy to Vcra Crux to awe General Ilucrta into saluting our flag, the thing which most surprised the Mexicans was the enormous siv.c of the Missouri mules as compared with the jack-rabbit-like Mexican mules. In the early days, one of the favorite sports in Lincoln was running mule- races. There was a man named Uilhro who owned a mule which was so fast that no other mule had a ghost of a show of winning. Bilhro's mule wan so uniformly victor lhac other mule-owners declined to enter into competition. Consequently, that particular and primi- tive spoil was ch'ing out. Finally an ingenious cm/en hit upon this happy plan of reviving it by publishing a notice which ran in this wise: "Great Mule-race! All Mutes free to enu-r!! Hilhrn's Mule barred IIP There has been much ovi-r-praise of "the gotul old days," and much idiotic condemnation of them, but some- times it seems to me that the pioneers managed to extract about as much pleasure out of life as we do out of our

1 m_ff i_f 1 -i f ; L-I i t rr 11 mi 1 i n IIL- Ar >i M i/ fi f i> lnir\tiii*

First really Rrcat man I ever saw Plnycil "liouky" to hear political speeches Governor Hramlett's pincc-ncv, spectacles My "lirsi nppearaiice on (lie " BURC"-~ Chaplain ulioiiicil, lUiys, RIVU them Ucll" Civil War aiul VCIRII of terror I heard battle of 1'erryvillc ami saw battlt' of Mnclcvillc " " General Duke's thrilling escape Two Rrcat steers, Hnck" ami Darby" Little girl witnessed murder of grandmother Triple lynching followed.

first really great man I ever saw was Col. John THEMarshall Ilarlan, later Mr. Justice Marian of the Supreme Court of the United States, one of the most eminent of all the justices of that high tribunal. In 1863, when in the [lower of his years and the prime of his splendid powers, he was candidate for Attorney- General of Kentucky, to which oilice lie was elected. He was as magnificent a .specimen of a physical man as one would have found in a month's joimu-y---Mandinp; six feet three in his stockings, weighing (wo hundred avoir- dupois without an miner of surplus Mrsh, red-headed, blond as any lily, graceful as a pain her, he was the typical Kcimickian in his best csiaie. His mental and educational equipment- was superb. On a glorious day in October, at a great picnic in Henry Lsham's sugar-grove, in (he miiskins of Muckvillr, Colonel

1 Ilarlan and Col. Thomas I ,. Hramleti, candidate for Governor, spoke lo a great concourse of people. I played hooky to hear them speak. Clovernor Hrainleit wns ;i large, handsome man am! made a good speech, but Ilarlan easilv him niul ' overtopped mentally, physically,

-..-. -;,--. id, iu ,.i,,,,, L. ,,c -. K..,, .... 'i - f 1,1 i office the correct theory, surely, mat nignt poured to he out my thoughts my father^ whereupon kindly gave me my first lesson in practical politics, explaining "the availability" of men and other things unnecessary to mention. He exploded my theory of the biggest man being entitled to the biggest office, but I mourn for that disillusioned. theory yet. I regret that I was Colonel Bramlett had a large Roman nose and he carried the first pair of pince-nez spectacles 1 ever saw. He was a widower, and when he began bis speech be clapped his pince-nez on his prominent proboscis, looked the audience over with a quizzical smile, and remarked; "I hope the ladies will not think my heart is as old as my eyes arel" a skilful and delicate hint which pleased his female auditors immensely, and which is all that I recollect of his speech. Had female suffrage been then in vogue, the chances are that his delicate mot would have made him votes. In that same sugar-grove, on an improvised platform, in September, 1863, I made my first appearance "in on public the stage." Call told me I could go to the in the picnic afternoon, provided I would cut and put up eleven shocks of corn, sixteen hills square, before noon, which was a good day's work for a grown man. I was only thirteen, but I the ^ accomplished heavy task. I was in such a that I hurry accidentally chopped a piece of bone out of left shin with my a corn-knife. I tied -\ saturated rag with Mexican mustang liniment around my wounded leg and after dinner went to the picnic. Ihe folks set me on up the platform and I declaimed Webster s glowing peroration in the Reply to Haw* It was a memorable day in my life. One of company Harlan's regiment, the Tenth Ken- tucky Union Infantry, was raised in thr- said he could outrun, outjump, and outwrestlc any man in the regiment. They told with much glee how, before they were ever in battle, the colonel would make them speeches about how bravely they should perform under fire, and how, after their first engagement -the battle of Mill Springs the colonel told them frankly that if any of them felt like running he did not blame them, for all that prevented him from fleeing was his shoulder-straps. They told another story which J quoted every time T caught Mr. Justice Harlan in congenial company when anecdotes were in order. His men said that ho had a very bellicose chaplain, a Baptist preacher of local re- nown. At the battle of Chickamaugn, so they claimed, when the Union forces were bard pressed, the chaplain, instead of being in the rear, administering the comforts of religion to the dying ami aiding the wounded, was in front, rushing up ami down the lines, encouraging the soldiers, and, believing that some swearing was necessary, and not being willing to swear himself, he would yell, "Hoys, give them hell, as Colonel Marian says!" As Mr. Justice Ilarlan was a si aid and rigid old-school Presbyterian elder, that excerpt from his martial history always plagued him a little, but it tickled his friends. lie was a delightful traveling companion, was fond of telling anecdotes and reminiscences, and was tin.1 only man I ever knew who habitually bought all the papers he could find in order to lead the editorials rather than

I he news. One of the si ranges t events in bis long and distinguished c;iieer was thai in the liisi years of his life be sat side by side with Mr. Justin- Luimn, an ex-Conf'ednaie Ten- nessee on the of tin- soldier, bench Supreme Conn. The: .* two (M'iive and irvrreiul sriunims had imurht i'aer to faee wnom an men U C .. B ,.L ..u..u., Mr Chief-Justice White, ^ under the Stars and Bars. 1 heir patri- fought four years than is that of Mr. Justice otism is no more questioned four under the Stars and Holmes, who fought years bears honorable scars as testimonials to Stripes and who his valor. on full some Though he could have retired pay years Field determined before he died, Mr. Justice Stephen J. he to remain on the bench until exceeded Chief-Justice which he did. When Mr. Marshall in length of service could have retired on full pay he started Justice Harlan in to beat Field's record for length of service, but he failed while he was still and to do so, death claiming him strong of life. apparently good for several years lusty He was the first man whom I ever voted against for Governor. It was when he was defeated by Preston H. Leslie in 1871. Leslie was not only elected Governor of Kentucky, but was subsequently appointed Governor of the Territory of Montana. It is a most unusual thing for a man to be chief magistrate of two magnificent commonwealths. While the Union and Confederate Kentuckians fought each other with conspicuous gallantry in the field, they did each other many kindnesses when not encased in battle. Gen. Basil W. Duke, second in command in Gen. John H. Morgan's Confederate cavalry, in his intensely Book interesting of Reminiscences Rives a very pleas- ant account of how Col. John M. Marian saved his life and the life of a friend, Captain Kcnnett. They were both in the Confederate service in Missouri during the months of early the war. As their wives were in Lexing- ton, desired to Kentucky, they reach that city. So, dressed in citizens' clothes, they had proceeded as far as Elizabeth town, when a lirmn/1/. nf u...,i, "We then concluded that we would walk along the railroad track until we reached some point where we might catch a train. Quite a number of the troops were bivouacked on both sides of the toad, and we were com- pelled to pass through them. I cautioned Kcnnctt not to call me by name or do anything which might especially attract attention. I had learned that there were several Kentucky regiments in this force many of them men from central Kentucky, where I was born and among these it was extremely probable that there would be some who knew me. We got through safely, and, although occasionally 'guyed,' no one halted us, I believed that the danger was past, but reckoned a little too hastily. Just as we drew near the entrance to the tunnel at Mul- draugh's Hill, two miles north of Kli'/abcthtown, a hand- car with several Federal officers on it overtook us. We stepped aside to let it pass, and I pulled my hat-brim over my face to avoid possible recognition. Hut Kronen-, moved by an impulse of pure mischief, called out: 'Won't you let us ride with you, gentlemen? We are very foot- sore and tired.' I forgot my caution, threw buck my hat, and looked up just as the c:ir came alongside, and rcaliv.ctl that I was face to face with three or four men with whom I was well, and had previously been quite pleasantly, acquainted. Among them were Col. George Jouett, afterward killed at JVrryville, and Colonel, sub- sequently Gen. John M. Marian, since one of ihe most distinguished of the associate justices of tin- Supreme Court of the United States. I was immediately recog- nized, and my name, was called by two or three of them, accompanied with expressions of surprise at my presence in that locality. They also imperatively ordered me to surrender. 1 tried to .seem astonished and look as if it the instead ot being stopped, and relief, however, car, I saw this I rolled on into the tunnel. When hurriedly up the side of the cut, bade Kennett good-by, sprang > at which was neither steep nor very high the point where off at a full a 1 happened to be, and made speed through the time that the hand-car field of standing corn. By to the I had so with its occupants had returned spot, that I was immediate rapidly evacuated beyond pursuit. "It was not until after the close of the war that I learned how and by whom my escape had been aided. I related this incident to a in Lexington and noticed gentleman ^ that he listened with some amusement, as well as interest. When I had finished my story he informed me that he had heard it before, 'John Harlan told me of it/ he said, 'just after it happened, and it is to him that you are indebted for your good fortune in getting off as well as you did.' When Judge Harlan recogni/ed me it at once occurred to him that I was trying to make my way to Lexington to see my wife; but he also rcali/ed that if captured I would be in great peril of being tried and punished as a spy. I was dressed in citizen's clothes and within the Federal lines on no ostensible military business. Under ordinary circumstances he would have taken me without hesitation, but was unwilling that I should be put to death for an offense of which he believed me innocent. So he quietly placed his foot under the and the efforts brake, of his companions failed to stop the car. Judge Harlan's foot, like everything in his make-up, mental, moral, and physical, was constructed on a indeed a liberal, grand scale, and might afiect the motion of a passenger-coach, not to mention a hand-car. It was an and exceedingly generous kindly act, and I, of can never course, forget how deeply I am indebted to him." The night before the buttle, Rousseau's division of McCook's corps of Bucll's army camped on Call's farm where I was working, eight miles from Pcrryville. Mrs. Call and her colored woman cooked all night for the sol- diers and I carried water for them. Next morning at: break of day I heard the cannon's opening roar first one gun, then more and more, and finally the rattle of small arms. About sunrise a staft'-ofliccr, his horse foam- covered and panting like a lizard, dashed up to General Rousseau's headquarters with. orders from General Mc- Cook directing him to double-quick his men toward Pcrryville till he struck the Confederates. As at the famous ball given by the Duchess of Rich- mond to Wellington and his officers on the eve of Water- loo;

Tlii-ii and there was hurrying; to ami fro,

Ami tin-re was mnmuiiifi in hot haste: tin- si ml, The muMt-nnK squadron, ami the clattri'mfj; car Went pnui-iiiR forward with inipi'luoiiH spri-d, And .swiftly formiiiR in the ranks of war.

Rousseau's soldiers left so suddenly (hat they threw away much of their impedimenta. After they quit their camps 1 picked up several brand-new blouses and paii.s of troiiM-rs which had never been worn, and one new pair of sewed shoes, ihe. first, fool-gear of thai .soil 1 ever wore. I was only twelve yeais old, but large for my age, and managed ID wear the clmhes. Good Mrs. (.'all in- sisted on dyeing them with the juire of the blaek walnut and cutting oil the brass buttons before .she would let me wear them, fearing that oiheiwisc somebody would .shoot me. walnuts and nicKory nuts. the place, including the tallest, and most rapid Call had a pair of largest, and put under yoke. traveling steers-Buck Darby-ever a and kept up with a good horse- I plowed them many day he told me to take the team. The day after the battle rails down on the oxen 'and wagon and haul some gravel his which I road where the soldiers had burned fence, do. as I to throw off the load proceeded to Just began which I was beside the of rails, on top of standing gravel Buck and looked road, a brass band came along. Darby at the musicians in amazement, bawled, stuck their mad a thick beech tongues out, ran like through forest, scattered me and the rails along miscellaneously, and smashed that wagon into kindling-wood. Probably no such time was ever made before or since by any two bovines, not even by Solon Chase's famous campaign oxen. If there had been a world's ring for race-steers I would have entered Buck and Darby, confident of win- ning the blue ribbon. Luckily, after describing a parab- ola through space, I landed in a mud-hole, from which a straggling soldier pulled me out unhurt, but, like David Copperfield, according to Mr. Dick, very much \n need of a bath. I was delighted to escape from that hazardous wagon-ride alive and with a whole hide. It is not so famous a ride as Mazeppa's, John Gilpin's, or Paul Rc- to it vere's, but me was fully as dangerous and thrilling. One amazing fact about the battle of Perryvillc was that, while at a distance of six or seven miles, I could hear it from to beginning end, General Bucll and his staff, who were not half so far away, did not hear it until it had been raging five or six hours. Perhaps the topography of the country and the direction of the wind were the reasons. Buell's failure to hear was one of the facts

which caused him rn KP rplipvprl f Me o rt . I on tnc renyvme mime-ueiu ju.sc at tne ciose or cnc war. Part of that bloody Held was a small hilly farm owned by old widow Bottom. On her farm was a big limestone spring which ran a stream several inches in diameter. The battle was fought about the middle of October, at the end of a drought of considerable length and intensity. The two armies fought like tigers for possession of that spring, and around it dead men, some in blue and some in gray, were piled up in great windrows, In 1865 two men robbed old Mrs. Bottom. She claimed to rccogni/e them as two of her neighbors named Taylor. There were so many Taylors in that community that some of them were nicknamed, and one of the accused was generally called "Splitfoot" Taylor, by rea- son of a bad accidental ax-wound which he had inflicted on himself. They were both indicted for robbery, A few days before the opening of the court at which they were to he tried the two Taylors concluded that, as she was the sole witness against them, ihe surest way out for them was to murder her, which they proceeded to do. She lived alone in a log cabin with a loose board-loft, so common in that day among the poorer folks. It seemed easy, but Tin- lu-st bid ni'lirim-s o' inia: ;iml men

So it was in this case. Ir so happened that on the nighr of the murder her little granddaughter, some eight or nine years old, was visiting her ami was sleeping in the loft. She was awakened by the noise, ami, looking down through the ciacks betwixi the boards, s.iw them murder her grandmother, and nrogmy.ctl them. As soon as they left, she ran home and related the horrible story. A hue were piaueu m me identified by the little girl, iney to await their preliminary trial calaboose at Perryville t the Before the preliminary before a justice of peace. counseled and trial could be had, the neighbors together, without to the best citizens of that community, regard affiliations, concluded to lynch the religious or political took from the calaboose the two Tay- murderers. They _ his trial lors and a colored preacher, awaiting preliminary to a thick for being too free with his neighbors' porkers, beech woods and swung all three of them to the limbs of not trees. Now be it remembered by those acquainted with beech-trees that they make a shade as dense almost as that of a cypress swamp. "SplitfootV rope broke, and in the darkness he made his escape. He will reap- in this The pear in a surprising manner story. lynching of these men was the spark which exploded the powder- magazine and which, in turn, destroyed the lives of three or four scores of what Colonel Roosevelt denominated "undesirable citizens"; and, by the way, in his account of his life in Dakota, he looked with lenient if not approv- ing eye on the summary process of lynch law, particu- larly where the crime is horse-stealing in a nascent pioneer community. The chief reason why these good and pious people around Perryville and there were and are none better anywhere took the law into their own hands and pulled off the lynching-bec aforesaid was this: Col. Thomas E. Bramlett, a Union colonel, was Governor, lie was a brave, generous, big-hearted, high-souled man. Ken- tucky is perhaps the only state in the Union whose con- stitution authorizes the Governor to pardon ;i person accused of crime, before conviction; but in that well- beloved commonwealth the Governor can pardon a person from the moment of accusation till the sin-rill' miikcn hU many cm/ens transgressed the laws who would not have done so in times of peace. Consequently, if a man had been in the army cither army for, to his credit be it s.i id, he treated the Confederates as well as he treated the Union soldiers he would pardon him, either hefore or after conviction. I rememher that: ahout a year after this Perry vf lie episode six men wore at one term of court sent to the penitentiary, and that all six, having hcen soldiers some in one army and some in t'other -ho par- doned the whole group, and they all got home ahead of the sheriff, who had conveyed them to .staff's prison. That night the enraged citizens lynched five of them and would have lynched the sixth if they could have caught him. So the good citl'/ens ahout Perryville, fearing to take chances, worked oil* their own criminals in short order and sans ccrhnonic. The lynching idea spread like wild- lire.

It was not: long until companies of regulators, vigilant es, or lynrhers, were operating in most of the counties in a Kentucky. At low estimate, they hanged fifiy to sev- enty-live men -most of whom riVlily deserved it eow- hided two or three hundred more, and ordered thai many out of the stare. They went at once and did not. stand on the order of iheir going. It is a historic fact (hat several Representatives in

1 Congress went to sve die- first- battle of Hull Run. One of them landed in Lihby Prison and was never again enthusiastic about witnessing haules. Among these visiting statesmen was Rrpiesetiiative John A. Logan, of Illinois -subsequently Major-den. John A. Logan- "Hlack Jack" as his men fondlv ii.-imrd him. Me had been a captain in the Mexican War, and when the Union ic< -- - - o- - w LUC , running (OI7 , bellowed at him: What the rushed past Logan, who Without his devil are you running for?" slowing upjn "Because I can't flyl" For gait, the soldier answered, the same reason these enforced Kentucky refugees didn't went footback, and in go any faster. They horseback, riddance and wagons. They were a good Kentucky knew them no more. could Without exaggeration or bad taste, they have appropriated as their own a witty couplet originated by the convicts of Botany Bay:

True patriots all; for be it understood We left our country for our country's good I

So many men were lynched in Kentucky in two or three years that a person traveling through the woods instinctively would pick out an eligible limb on which to hang somebody. I have done that scores of times. For a long time I had some twigs from a black-jack sapling on which four of my acquaintances were hanged. What was the effect of these summary proceedings? Criminals were so thoroughly cowed that a person could have left his pocketbook lying in the middle of the big road and nobody would have picked it up, while thou- sands of loafers and thieves who had been living by their wits or by the strong arm went to work. The chief danger about lynching is that it is as con tagious as the smallpox or the bubonic plague. Another trouble is that three or four men can hang a man as easily as three or four hundred can do it. While the first lynch- ings, as in the Perryville case, were done by whole com- munities in concert acting to administer rude justice on persons guilty of abominable clearly crimes,' later men were i i it,-. .. . cascol tnat Kino so nrousea tnc people, wno were growing weary of the extra-judicial executions, that they arose in their might and put an end to the whole business. The case which stopped it was this: A wild, rollicking young fellow named Sam Lambert, tall, slender, hand- some, with a fine shock of long, black curly hair, went to the village of Cornishvillc one night. Re and four denizens of that town, full of fighting whisky, engaged In a game of scven-up for high stakes. They got into a combat in which Lambert was killed with pistol bullets. The quartet, in a vain endeavor to prevent suspicion falling on them, threw his body across a horse and took it to the black-jack aforesaid, about two or three miles from town, and hanged it in due form. Me was the fourth and last man to swing from that sapling. One close observer in the crowd which went out to view the corpse next day pointed out to his neighbors the sug- gestive fact that Lambert's long, black curly hair was stiff with blood and standing straight up. This led to an investigation, which developed the fact that the body had been riddled with bullets and that he was dead before he was hanged. By piecing things together, a case: was made in court against (.lie quartet of seven-up players and they were convicted of manslaughter and thus ended the of reipi "Judge. Lynch" in Kentucky, The regularly constituted conns resumed their sway and the ceased Governor to pardon except in cases clearly meritorious.

About two years before the Lambert killing, when lynching; was in (lower, I was teaching school sonic two miles from the sapling. I was only fifteen years old. A wild, harum-scarum chap, named John Gibson, two or three years older than I, was one. of my pupils. He was appening. en I returned from Kentucky Unive in the summer of 1868, one night I stayed with who hved frimk about a quarter of a mile f,o m the home of ill Gibwn family. Just about sunup I heard hc-m r,,?,,r screams ssuing from the Gibson 8 place, jule 1 o M hJ" backed horse hitched at the gate, a. d gXpcd overT Gibson's to ascertain the trouble. They ruld , i "" llat John and his uncle Bill had been 1 nnied ,

- 1 l drop ; to r-s Wil!f " r)t enough break the necks nf Kill / :i ltl had choked 1 '". to death Bi w r ! ,'" Tlu-y was )uilt - so much disto ^ te ed h cv , ''"''ft 111 01 1 '' thi ' C l '?, ! was^"^anceth.StsrtSSKal lu though he were d" s ' asleep an I ,'* rT-" hlli Protruding about a l "" 1 "' ao qumcr O f , "," ,"' 1 "'' U''' e The skin on his " llis l neck , x ''l'. t to th r" '' Ii pl Wil)i deep-blue ne . """'fe'-d I'V a He looked " 1 believe at Ural he was dead ' ^ 'w v ,"'- - ll0t August I felt hi. " I " rl "> hand, Jd faa- "'K m lf ' e. I cut X Wclv Wil as him down re, nv' ". neck and thc ,, ,. begM n.b^j^cd )p fmn| Neighbors - dropped in Work< 1 ; ''"'"'' and Z ^ I r" store the ' ( "' llillf "' vital '''' > spark ' W' helped tiZ'succm. bury th e Nc-x, ( 1, , ^ ' 1[ ! lc S'-ound 3 about the san \; nn , f,, r ,,,. ,,:..,. i.. rashness. High authority in all Kentucky matters avers to this day that Governor Bramlett's liberal policy as to pardons, which precipitated the riot of lynch law, was wise, not because it led to the habit of lynching, but because it prevented innumerable and lasting feuds in Kentucky growing out of the Civil War. I said that "Splitfoot" Taylor would appear again, and here he is. He escaped from the lynchcrs by the accident of the rope breaking in that beech woods near Pcrryville, Ken- tucky, in 1865 or itt6f), and fled to parts unknown. Some twenty years later I picked up The St. Louis Republic one morning, and in it was u column interview with him. Mi- was en route to Kentucky in the bands of the shcrifF of Uoylc County. lit: bad been arrested while working in the lead-mines of Joplin, Missouri. In his interview he gave an account of his wanderings. He said that he iirsr went to Galena, Illinois, and worked in the lead-mines; thence to Oregon, where he worked as a lumber-jack; thence to Hawaii, when.- he worked in flu- sugar-Reids; thence to Australia, where he herded sheep. Thc-ncc to New '/calami he went, when- be did oili! jobs. Then he turned his face toward his old Kentucky home, feeling that sonic invisible chain was drawing him to "the Dark and Hloody Ground," and, strangest of all, lhat hr frit a positive sense of relief when the sherifl" clapped him on the shoulder and told him he was bis prisoner! Last scene of all for "Spliifool," so far as concerns us, was as follows: The white-headed old man appeared at the bar of justice, was tried for murder, and, though defended by (.'ol. I'hil li. Thompson, Sr., one of ihe ablest of all Kcntuckv criminal lawvcrs. was convicted and sent a would not permit him so to do, having lively and un- the of that pleasant recollection of how drawing noose in the beech woods felt. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman once said, "War is helll" Those who lived in "the border states" during the Civil War and who are old enough to remember the tragic events of that bloody but heroic epoch in our annals will with one accord indorse his idea, if not his sulphurous language. It was easy to be a Union man in Massachusetts, It was hazardous to be anything else. It was easy to be a Confederate in South Carolina. It was not safe to be anything else. But in Kentucky, Missouri, and the other border states it was perilous to be the one thing or the other. Indeed, it was dangerous to be neither and to sit on the fence. I was a child when Sumter was fired on, living in Wash- ington County, Kentucky. I remember an old fellow from whom the Union raiders took one horse and the Confederate raiders another. So when a third party of soldiers met him in the road and inquired whether he were a Union man or a Confederate, being dubious as to their army affiliations, he answered, diplomatically, "I am neither one nor the other, and very little of that," and thereby lost his third and last horse to Confederates dis- guised in blue uniforms. The Kentuckians are a peculiar people. They arc the most hospitable, the most emotional, the kindest-hearted under the but sun, they are born warriors. A genuine son of "the Dark and Bloody Ground" is in his normal condition only when fighting. It seems to me that must have somebody sowed that rich land with dragons' teeth m the early days. To use a sentence indigenous to ' tho cnil "A V *.._1 ^ . -it PI , able-bodied man in the state and a great many not able-bodied not only of military age, but of any age, young enough or old enough to squeeze in, took up arms on one side or the other, and sometimes on both. Neighbor against neighbor, father against son, brother against brother, slave against master, and frequently wife against husband, the fierce contention entered even into theology, rent congregations in twain, severed the ties of blood, and blotted out the friendships of a lifetime. Men who were born and reared on adjoining farms, who had attended the same schools, played the same games, courted the same girls, danced in the same sets, belonged to the same lodges, and worshiped in the same churches, suddenly went gunning for one another as remorselessly as red Indians, only they had a clearer vision and a surer aim. From the mouth of the Big Sandy to the mouth of the Tennessee there was not a square mile in which some awful act of violence did not take place, Kentucky has always been celebrated for and cursed by its bloody feuds feuds which cause the Italian ven- detta to appear like a holiday performance in comparison. Of course the war was the evening-tip time, and many a man became a violent Unionist because the ancient enemies of his house, \\vre Southern sympathi/ers, and vice versa. Some of (horn could have given pointers to Frn Diavnlo himself. As all the evil passions of men were aroused, and all restraints of propriety as well ;is all fear of law were removed, every latent tendency toward crime was warmed into life. The, land swarmed with cutthroats, robbers, thieves, firebugs, and malefactors of every degree and kind, who preyed upon the old, the in firm, the helpless, witn tne colony than anything else, in and istics, feuds and all, reproduced stronger larger form in her amazingly fertile soil. So all that goes before as well as to applies to Missouri Kentucky. From the first, Missouri has been the stormy petrel of

American politics. The richest, the most imperial com- monwealth in the Union, her geographical location always She placed her in the thick of the fight. was a slave peninsula jutting out into a free-soil sea. The first serious trouble on the slavery question came \vith her admission into the Union, and the second over the admission of California, a Missouri colony. Most people date hostilities from Sumter, April, 1861. As a matter of fact, Missouri and Kansas had been carrying on a. civil war on their own hook for five or six years before the first gun was fired in Charleston Harbor. If Sir Walter Scott had lived in that day, he could have found enough material for fifty novels descriptive of border warfare in the forays and exploits of the Mis- sourians and Kansans before the first soldier was legally mustered into the service of either army. Out on a Kansas prairie stands a monument to old John Brown, reciting the fact, among other things, that he commanded "at the battle of Ossawatomie on the 30th day of August, 1856!" Whether the opposing commander has a monument I do not know. I witnessed only one battle during the Civil War. A line in Gen. Basil W. Duke's entertaining book, Morgan and His is all Men, that is vouchsafed to it in the litera- ture of the but war; surely it was the most astounding martini caper ever cut since war was thought of, and it fully illustrates the Kcntuckian's inherent and ineradi- cable love of fighting. us a laim-iiauu im junu VMUI, wnu was LUC owner of several fine horses of the famous "copper-bot- tom" breed. Morgan had, perhaps, as good an ej'C for a "saddler" as was ever set in a human head, and during those troublous days his mind was sadly mixed on the tnenm and tnuni when it came to equincs -a remark applicable to many others besides Morgan, on both sides at that. Call, hearing that Morgan was coming, ;md knowing his penchant for the. noblest of quadrupeds, ordered me to mount "in hot haste" and "take the horses to the woods." Just as I had climbed upon a magnificent chestnut sorrel, fit for a king's charger, and was rounding up die others, I looked up, and in the level rays of the. setting summer sun saw Morgan's cavalry in "all the pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war" riding up the broad gravel road on the: backbone of a long, high ridge, half a mile (o the south. Kaseinafed hy the glittering array, boylike, I forgot (.'all and the peril of his horses, and watched the gay cavalcade. Suddenly 1 saw seven horsemen emerge from the little village of Mackvillc and ride furiously down the turnpike 10 within easy pistol-range of the Confederates, and open lire. I could hear the crack of the revolvers and .see the flash and smoke, and when Morgan's advance-guard fell hack on the main body I observed Hiar one ritlciless horse went back with them and thai only six hoinegu.iids iod<; back to Mackville in lieu of the seven who had nddcn forth to battle. Morgan's command halted, deployed in battle-line, and rode slowly up the hill, while I rode a great deal faster to the woods.

TK,. 1 ..1.. 1....1 ..I ..r 1 _...i.ii. truce and fastness, sent in a flag of regularly negotiated to the rules in an exchange of prisoners according such cases. no Of course, Morgan would have paid attention to the seven men, but he supposed that even his own native Kentucky never nurtured seven daredevils so reckless as to do a thing like that unless they had an army back of them. I have often thought of that matchless deed of daring, and can say, in the language of the French General Can- robert, who witnessed the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava: "It is magnificent, but not war." Years afterward, one of the seven was sending his children to school to me. After I became well acquainted with him, one day I said to him: "Gibson, I have always wanted to know what made you seven fellows charge Morgan." "Ob," he replied, "we were all full of fighting whisky" an explanation which explained not only that fight, but thousands more. If that splendid feat of arms had been performed in New England by New-Englanders, the world could scarcely contain the books which would have been written about it. It would have been chronicled in history and chanted in song as an inexhaustible theme. It is generally assumed by the wiseacres who write the histories that in the border states the old, wealthy, promi- nent slaveholding families all adhered to the Confederacy, and that only the poor, the obscure natives, and the immi- grants from the North stood by the old flag. This is a serious mistake. The great historic dominant family connections divided, thereby making confusion worse- confounded. Prominent people wore the Confederate Others gray. just as prominent wore the Union blue. L)r. Rnnrrt T \\r*r*},', n ~',A^ j.U_ _. .1.1- i mated Abraham .Lincoln ana Andrew Johnson, was a stanch Union man. Two of his sons achieved high rank in the Confederate armies and two others in the Union armies. His illustrious kinsman, John C. Breckcnridgc, resigned his seat in the United States Senate to become a lieuten- ant-general in the Southern army, while James S. Jackson, Representative from the Green River district, resigned his scat in the Mouse to become a brigadier in the Union Army and died a hero's death, leading his division on the hard-fought field of Perryvillc. Roger Hanson, the eloquent, became a Confederate general and fell on the field of glory at Stone River, while his brother won distinction on the other side as comman- der of brigade. John J. Crittendcn, the best beloved of Kentucky statesmen, unflinchingly stood by the Union, while one of his sons wore the double stars of a Union major-general, another achieving similar rank in the Confederate Army. The Henry Clay branch of the great Clay family espoused the Confederate cause, while the Cassias M. Clay branch fought: with the traditional courage of their race for the solidarity of the Union. John Marshall Ilarlan, late Mr. Justice Ihtrlan, of the Supreme Conn, with a pedigree running hack to the Cavalit-rs of Jamestown, won renown on many a bloody field, fighting under "Old Pap" Thomas, "the Rock of Chickamauga." In the same army were Lovell El. Rousseau, the ideal soldier and princely gentleman, and Benjamin II. Hristow, who missed the Presidency only by a scratch :md through lack of orKimiv.atum of his forces. I had two schoolmates, older than myself, named m same capacity r fc The strange fortunes First Kentucky Union Cavalry. these brothers face to face m the of civil war brought raid the ride ever taken great Indiana-Ohio greatest to bit and reinand when since horses were first broken Confederate Dickinson sur- Morgan was captured the rendered to his Union brother. the Sena- In Missouri, Thomas Hart Benton, great birth and a Tennesseean tor," a North-Carolinian by by chair in on the training, lost his curule 1851 slavery so as he lived his influence was question, and long vast^ Frank P. for the Union. It was his political pupil, Blair, a Kentuckian and a slaveholder, who more than any to the other man helped to hold Missouri Union, while the beau sabreur of the his cousin, Gen. Jo Shelby, was trans-Mississippi Confederates. To the same class as Blair belonged James O. Broad- Hamilton head, John B. Henderson, Edward Bates, R. Gamble, Wiilard P. Hall, John D. Stevenson, Thomas C. Fletcher, Thomas T. Crittenden, Samuel T. Glover, John S. F. Phillips, B. Gratz Brown, John D. Dryden, James S. Rollins, the most brilliant orator and one of the largest slave-owners in the state, together with a large minority, if not a positive majority, of the leading Unionists of Missouri. So far as I know only one Virginian of the first rank fought for the Union Gen. George H. Thomas but he was a host within himself. He was the greatest soldier on the Federal side, and that will be the verdict of posterity after the sleight-of-hand performers- have clone juggling the facts of history for political effect. Indeed, it is safe to say that had none of the aristocratic families wrongfully so called none of the great families, none of the slaveholders, stood for the Union, Kentucky, states had been solidly tor the Union, it the house had not been hopelessly divided against itself in all that region, the war would not have lasted half so long and William H. Seward's optimistic prophecy of a "ninety days' picnic'* would have been fulfilled. This brings me to the central idea of this chapter, the main fact of which I never think without anger and resentment, for I believe that justice should be done, even in writing; history. Let me say that, population considered, Kentucky and Missouri sent more soldiers to the Civil War than any other state and received less credit for it. They were splendid soldiers, too. Theodore Roosevelt said that by actual measurement the Kentucky Union soldiers were the finest specimens of physical manhood in the Federal armies; and when Jefferson Davis, himself a renowned soldier, reviewed the army at Corinth, lie declared Cockrell's Missouri brigade to be the most mag- nificent soldiers his trained military eye hail evev gii'/ed upon. Nevertheless, it is difficult to induce 1 extreme Southern- ers to admit that the Kentucky and Missouri Confeder- ates were good Confederates, though the Kcntuckians and Missourians made, a i'ovir years' war possible, ft is even more dillieult to induce extreme Northerners, whose skins and homes and piopeiiy wen- ;ill .sale during the war, to admit ih.it the Unionists of Kcruucky and Mis- souri deserve any ciedit, when as a matter of fact tlu-y pvcviMiii'd si-cessum fmm sucwding. If Lovcll II. RnusM-au had m-vcr urniited his Louis- ville 1 Legion, if old Krank YVolfnrd ami Thomas I ). Bram- leit had never i-siahlislu-il Camp Dick Robinson, Ken- tucky would have seceded and the Ohio River would have and not Gen. Nathaniel of strategic movement, Lypn, war-books Missouri New England, as the Northern say under the lead of would have joined the Confederacy Gov. Claiborne F. Jackson and Gen. Sterling Price, the and with her vast resources to peerless soldier, command, Lee's soldiers would not have been starved and frozen into a surrender. Jf the government built monuments to soldiers in pro- for the portion to what they really accomplished Union cause, Frank Blair's would tower proudly among the loftiest. Camp Jackson is slurred over with an occasional paragraph in the history-books, but it was the turning- point in the war west of the Mississippi, and it was the work of Frank Blair, the Kentuckian, the Missourian, the slave-owner, the patrician, the leonine soldier, the patriotic statesman. Some day a Tacitus, a Sismondi, or a Macaulay will write a truthful history of our Civil War one of the bloodiest chapters in the book of time and when it is written, the Kentucky and Missouri heroes, both Union and Confederate, will be enrobed in immortal glory. It is said that figures do not lie. To the Union armies Missouri contributed 109,111 soldiers; Kentucky, 75,760; Maryland, 46,638; Tennessee, 31,092, and West Vir- ginia, 32,068 making a grand total of 294,669. Now, take an example. Suppose that as the sun was setting on the gory field of Shiloh, where Albert Sidney Johnston was killed, all the Kentuckinns, Missourians, and Tennessceans had been suddenly subtracted from the Union Army and transferred to the Confederate side. Can any sane man doubt what would have happened? As certain as Fate, Ulysses Simpson Grant and the rem- nants of his army would have been or driven captured' .1 T< . ^ . . 111UJ could not have saved the silent soldier had it not been for the Kentuckians, Missourians, and Tcnncssceans fight- ing for their country there; and with all Grant's bulldog tenacity, the history of Vicksburg, Missionary Ridge, Cold Harbor, the Wilderness, and Appomattox never would have been written, for the all-suflicicnt reason that there would not have been any to write. Take another example. Suppose that George H. Thomas had gone with his state, as all his brothers in arms from Virginia did, and that when Pickett made his spectacular charge at Gettysburg, Thomas had in the nick of time reinforced him with the 294,669 veteran Kentuckians, Missourians, Marylandcrs, West Virgin- ians, and Tcnncssceans then fighting in the Union armies, can any human being fail to understand what would have been the result? Meade's grand army would have been ground to powder, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Ilarrisburg, Washington, New York, would have been taken, the nations of Europe would have run races with one another to recognize the independence of tin: Confederacy, and more aid than he needed would have been freely tendered Jefferson Davis to enable him to ieuli'/,e the aspirations of the South for a separate government. In taking a retrospect of the- conduct of the border states during the war and of how tin- slaveholders therein fought valiantly for their own undoing, 1 am forced to the conclusion that when Abraham Lincoln said in his first inaugural address: "1 have no pur- pose, directly or indirectly, 10 interfere with the in- stitution of slavery in the- states where it: exists. 1 believe I have no lawful right to do so, and 1 have no inclination to do so," he did more for the preservation of t 1C llninTl tlinn w.m At\\\i< liw -ill i In. L-it,.i.,M-..-.<- the Union who otherwise and naturally would have gone with the South. The Kentuckians and Missourians be- long to that class who, having put their hands to the on plow, do not look back, and they fought after the Emancipation Proclamation as bravely and doggedly as before. It may be that the fact that Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were both Kentuckians, born within a few miles of each other, added fuel to the flames through- out Kentucky and Missouri and wherever the Kentuck- ians had settled in large numbers. The accident of their birth in the same vicinity contributed to the awful tragedy the element of feud, inherent in the Kentucky character. At any rate, Lincoln understood the Kentuckians and Missourians better than any other Republican President, and to the day of his death they had a warm place in his sympathetic heart. More than this, the border-state men fought, whatever their rank. The only instance on record during the entire war of one field officer killing another in battle was at Mill Springs, when Gen. Speed Smith Fry, of Kentucky, a Union soldier, shot and killed General ZollicofFcr, com- a of Tennessee manding brigade Confederates. The only to this parallel sanguinary performance in all military annals was the killing of Tecumseh, at the battle of the river Thames, by Col. Richard M. Johnson, another Kentuckian, popularly called "Old Dick." Ed Porter of Thompson, Kentucky, u Confederate cap- hobbled into tain, the battle of Murfrccsboro on his and for two crutches, days fought side by side with those possessing the soundest and most stalwart legs, thereby the rivaling far-resounding feats of Charles Twelfth of Sweden at Pulrnwn. ami f^n T^^K u;u.._i.._ ... p. soldier, living 01 uuau, su iar ,iy msioiy ecus, mat ever had a wooden leg shot ofF in battle, for the reason, per- haps, that he is the only soldier that ever went into battle with a wooden leg. He survived his wound to become a wealthy and enthusiastic Populist. In Missouri and Kentucky the war was waged with unspeakable bitterness, sometimes with inhuman cruelty. It was fought by men in single combat, in squads, in companies, in regiments, in great armies, in the open, in fortified towns, and in ambush, under the Stars and Stripes, under the Stars and liars, and under the black flag. The arch-fiend himself .seems to have been on the field in person, inspiring, directing, commanding. Up in northern Missouri, (Jen. John McNeil took twelve inno- cent men out and shot them in cold blood, because it was supposed that: some bushwhacker had killed a Union man. That is known in local history as "the Palmyra massacre," and has "damned" John McNeil "to ever- lasting fame." It turned out afterward that tin- Union man was still alive, and so the twelve men had died in vain, even according to the hard rule of /<'.v fallouts. At Cenualia one day a Wabash train containing more than thirty Union soldiers was captured by Hill Anderson, a guerrilla chid, who had sustained some grievous personal injury at tin- hands of tin- Unionists, and whose blood some subtle mental alchemy had converted into gall. Me deliberately took them out and shot them, every one, as though they had been so many wolves. Having completed that gory job, he inarched out to a skirt of timber, ahour a mile from town, and camped at the fooi of a long, gentle prairie slope. Shortly after a certain Colonel Johnson, with a body of Union cavalry, followed him and look position on the ridge of the prairie. TI :..K. ,.r .1 1- A.,,I :i.i ,..:.!, .I..K..U. i UWLridle reins between their teeth navy 160 who were >ach hand, rode up on Johnson's men, to and left, killed bolishly dismounted, and, firing right and would have killed the other 17 if they .43 of them, taken :ould have been caught. Only one man was alive, in the md he badly wounded, the legend neighborhood the Masonic >eing that he saved himself by giving sign if distress. in and Such are samples of the Civil War Missouri Centucky. The survivors of those cruel days, Union and Con- _ federate, are now living side by side, cultivating assidu- of Missouri msly the arts of peace in the commonwealths nd Kentucky, the most delectable places for human labitation beneath the stars. One thing that contributed largely to the general con- usion and bitterness was the great variety of opinion. There were Union men without any qualifying addendum, Conditional Union men, Secessionists, and States' Rights nen. Those who most effectually tied the hands of the .ecessionists and who unwittingly but most largely played ato the hands of the Unionists were the advocates of 'armed neutrality," certainly the most preposterous heory ever hatched in the brain of man. Who was its ather cannot now be definitely ascertained, as nobody is nxious to claim the dubious honor of its paternity. Vhat it really meant may be shown by an incident that lappened in the great historic county of Pike, where I tow reside a county which furnished one brigadier- ;eneral and five colonels to the Union army and three ;olonels to the Confederate, with a full complement of tfficers and men. Early in 1861 a great "neutrality meeting" was held _ r> i- - /"i . i ,-, *,.... cnairman. JTIKC tor, was elected me Bounty orators were out in full force, but chief among them was Hon. George W. Anderson, also a prominent lawyer, an East Tennesseean by nativity, afterward a colonel in the Union Army, state senator, and for four years a Member of Congress. Eloquence was on tap and flowed freely. Men of all shades of opinion fratcrnr/cd; they passed strong and ringing resolutions in favor of "armed neu- as a trality," and "all went merry marriage-bell." Chairman Gatcwood was somewhat mystified and not the altogether satisfied by harmonious proceedings; so, after adjournment sine (He, he took Anderson out under a convenient tree and in his shrill tenor nervously in- does quired, "George, what 'armed neutrality' mean, anyhow?" Anderson, in his deep bass, growled, "It means guns for the Union men and none for the rebels!" the truth and wisdom of which remark are now per- fectly apparent. So it was, verily. Anderson had hit the bull's-eye, and no mistake. If he had orated for an entire month he could not have stated the case more luminously or more comprehensively. lie had exhausted the subject. He fore the moon had waxed and waned again tin- leaders of that, "neutrality" love- feast were hurrying to and fro, healing up for volunteers in every nook and corner of the county, some for service in tin- Union, others for service iu the Confederate Army. Hut it is proverbial that "hindsight is betier than fore- sight." Men must be judged by their own knowledge, at the time they acted, not by ours; by the circumstances with which they were surrounded, and not by those which environ us. What may appear unfathomable problems to the wise men of one generation may be clear as crystal to even the dullest; of the siicfeediiij; generation. .1 L emains, nevertheless, that it was honestly believed in thousands of md enthusiastically advocated by capable, and >rave, and honest men all over Kentucky Missouri, nany of whom afterward won laurels on the battle-field md laid down their lives in one army or the other in lefense of what they deemed the right. CHAPTER V

Kansas Grasshoppers I lnc:itc In Missouri Tench srlionl Kilic a paper Practise law Prosecuting ar(oriu'y--l J awsuitsC)llici'liol(linK -Traiiff vania SliwjtmR-scr.iiK' -Auoul cluster 10 Uear'Taust" TuacU ump public scliutil-- RiiifiL- Sunday-school classPleasant rccullmitniH of off young first ufTuufcrs with fiiti-n or jail smtuici'S Unwittingly carry a ch a HCIIRC Preside at reunions debate Two liiiinliU- and iiulili: servants of God.

the autumn of 1867 I went to Lexington, Kentucky, INand entered what was then called "Kentucky Uni- versity." It was the first great institution of learning west of the Alleghanies. In the earlier days it- was de- nominated Transylvania University, a hisuuiful name which has been restored to if in these later times. I lived in a ramshackle old building on the campus known as f "The Harracks,' because the soldiers built ii during the w;ir. It was made of wide planks, set up on end and stripped with narrower planks. It was rented to poor students at live dollars per bead per annum, four students to the room. The apartments wen* nrither spacious nor handsome, but they suHicnl for our simple wants, A capacious brick dormitory now occupies the site of "The Barracks." Students therein are bet ter boused than we wore, but they do not Irani any num- than we did. At that, time Robert (Jraham, one of nature's noble- men, was pK-.sident of the univeisity. Or. John II.

% Neville, ilu thin! handsomest man I ever saw, was pro- fessor of Greek. He divided the whole world into Checks but he was all kindness and to him persona non grata, in Greek. enthusiasm for those who were bright They at the first one in had semiannual examinations, and Greek William H. Graham, son of President Robert now Graham; Dr. William Benjamin Smith^ professor and on emeritus of astronomy at Tulane University, the one of the schol- Carnegie Foundation, profoundest living and were ars; Rev. Worth Yancy, now deceased, myself on a scale of 100. That was one of graded a hundred of life than when I was the happiest days my happier than when I first elected to my first office, happier was elected to Congress or elected Speaker, happier than on any other days of my life except the day I was married and the days on which my children were born. Achiev- ing that grade in Greek was my first victory among strangers and it filled me with courage and hope. Yancy was my friend as long as he lived. His son, Hogan Yancy, a successful lawyer of Lexington, Kentucky, is my friend now. Young Yancy was among the first Kentuckians who declared openly for me for President, and he rendered me yeoman service because of the warm friendship be- tween his father and myself. Prof. William H. Graham, late of California, now de- ceased, was one of my most enthusiastic supporters in the Golden State. Not long since his children came to see me in the Speaker's room at the Capitol. Nobody has received a warmer welcome than the children of my old classmate, the grandchildren of my well-beloved friend and mentor, President Robert Graham, whose influence has rested upon me like a benediction all my life. Dr. William B. Smith, the distinguished author and astrono- mer, and 1 are still close friends and write each other across the campus to welcome me back. It is pleasant to recall these occurrences after the lapse of so man/ years.

There is no friend like the old friend who has shared our morning days, No greeting like Ms welcome, no homage like his praise.

I attended Transylvania University three years and two months, teaching school during the summer vaca- tions to make what money J could. My father, from his small earnings, gave me all he could spare, and my sister Eli/abcth (wife of Rev. J. J. Haley, of Lodi, Cali- fornia) let me have- such .sums as she could from her salary as a teacher. The truth is that she and I helped each other along as much as possible, We stood up for each other loyally; hut all three of us together could scrape up .only about two dollars per week for my neces- sities at the university. It is superfluous to state that I did not live in luxury, hut I -stood at the head of my class. After attending the university for ilwe years anil two months I was, in October, iKyo, expelled for shooting at a fellow-student named Webb, ftom Ohio. 1 would not mention it save for the fact that it was greatly mag- nified in the presidential campaign of lou, very much to my detriment. \Ve fell our in an argument over the supper-hour in our barracks mess. Webb and I were, both of unusual sttength. lie was my senior by some three or four years, and had been a .sailor on (he (Jreai

Lakes, while 1 had lived anil labored nn a farm the best school for physical training in the world. One night: he came into our room and began a conversation about the hour for Minner. He w:inrrd If :it wiv lu-rinisc lie rli-rkcil ot most cnan DiacKenea have grown out it, prooaniy, eyes a and bloody noses had not one of my room-mates, young me backholts and giant named Thomson, grabbed pinned both my arms to my body. Webb squared off and hit and another on me a hard jolt between the eyes my mouth. I kept telling Thomson either to let me loose or to knock Webb down. He was so excited that he did neither. Wild with rage, I finally threw him off, Webb still pounding me. Under the head of the bed I had an old revolver, whose cylinder would not revolve except by hand manipulation, for which I had swapped a German grammar and a French grammar. I got that and fired at Webb. Thomson knocked my pistol hand up and the bullet went about an inch above Webb's head and lodged in the door-casing. That ended the fight. The strange of the not that part story is, two hot-blooded, high-strung young men should get into a personal encounter, when and where personal encounters were frequent, but that the gigantic Thomson, who was my friend and who dis- liked Webb, should in his excitement hold me while Webb was free to pound me. That was unwise, but in knock- ing my pistol hand up he acted with great wisdom. He thought, as 1 struck the first blow, by holding me he would end the fight. When two men are fighting it is always dangerous to hold one and not both. I knew a man to be stabbed to death while a friend was holding him. I went immediately to see the preside-in of the uni- versity (President White, who had succeeded Graham), and stated the case to him precisely as it was, hoping that my high standing as a student would save me from any severer than a penalty ; public reprimand or f short suspension. He said, however, that there had been so much fighting, carousing, and violation of the rules among the students tnat tnc patience ol tnc taculty was ex- hausted, and that an example would have to be made of me in order to scare the rest. The result was that I was expelled. I went home and taught school for two the me a written invitation to years, when faculty gave return. I declined to do so, and went to Bethany Col- instead. lege, West Virginia, I declined to return to Transylvania, largely for the reason that the Board of Curators had precipitated a theological quarrel, which had reduced the number of students from nearly eight hundred to fifty. My expulsion influenced the lives not only of myself, but of at least three others. Class honors at Transyl- vania University were decided strictly by grades. Every- body knew that the first honors of the class to graduate in 1871 lay between John 0. Hopkins (subsequently pro- fessor of Greek in Butler University) and myself. When Transylvania opened in September, 1870, which was about two months prior to tin: shoot ing-afFray, Hop- kins came to me for the purpose of figuring out our average grades, stating frankly thai, as he was going to be a college professor and having a professorship prom- ised him, he was very anxious lor the class honors, as it: would promote his career, and that: if my average grade excelled his he would drop back into the next class, where he could easily win. We figured out the averages and mine was about one per rent, above his. So bo dropped into the Class of hack iHyz t taking only about half ihe Senior year's studies, tie voting much of his lime to general rending. 'I hat It'll me without seiious opposition for the class honors. Hut I was expel led, ami Hopkins dropped out. The fust honors, therefore, went to James Lane Allen, the novelist, and the second honors to llenty - . u 6 ,,.,, lllc , IC L nuuurs in ^ IIIB 18/3, which fact more than all else made me president of Marshall College West Virginia, at twenty-three the youngest collete president in America. What of my friend Webb? One night, some twentv- nve or thirty years after the above-described nVht T lectured m a small in city northern Ohio. Next mornine a bright man young named Webb came to see sa,d me and that his father, who had been a student at Kentucky University in jgyo, when he learned that I was to lecture there, told him to call me and upon find out if I were the James B. Clark who attended that university thlvear I answered ,n the affirmative and then discovered his father that was my Webb. I asked him where 1 s a h W3S telling Sch o1 abollt

4.

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' '- his r7 thilt lle w:ls farew . II tour fnd tl, "T'' "^ ^at strait-S "^ by that S me- nsti?u i^ffMmi attending ng Upon P u P ils for theatricals wa ! , students present, i uiu noc notner my iicau *UUU aftermath. I had the good luck to sit immediately behind Gen. his comments on John C. Breckcnridgc, and to listen to the actor and the play. From Lexington, Forrest journeyed to Louisville. Next day The Courier-Journal continued a scathing edi- torial entitled, "Is Edwin Forrest n Circa t Actor or an Unmitigated Old Hellower?" which seemed to me then, and seems to me now, a gross and cruel outrage upon one of the ablest actors that ever trod the hoards ii^America. It is surprising to me that so little attention is paid to vocal music in our common schools. To he able to sing of is a fine accomplishment as well as the source much after pleasure. I am not talking about singing the manner of Jenny Lind, or Paid, or Caruso, but singing in a fairly competent way religious songs, patriotic songs, and love songs. Lord liyron said chat Tom Moore sing- ing his own melodies was the perfection of poetry. It is an easy matter to teach children to sing tolerably well, and it does not subtract much lime from their studies. I know that by experience. When I took charge of the public school at Camden, a small village in a remote part of Anderson County, in December, ittyo, I was informed that the readier of the public school in that community was expected to be also the supcrinien- dcnt of the Sunday-school, which astounded me. J bad never attended Sunday-school a day in my life. In fact, I had no chance, as there wore no Sunday-schools in the

neighborhood; but at it I went. I found that llu-y bad no literature; no Sunday-school song-bnok.s; nothing to interest ran the children. Tin- sober-sided gi own-up* in a bin after Jjhulc thing way not pleasing to children, order to have a worth other things, that in Sunday-school and while money was necessary to buy supplies, that, the to con- unless the people who desired Sunday-school tinue "came down with the dust," I would resign, I out of and read then took a slip of paper my pocket out the amount that each man and woman should contribute. not a soul I think it surprised them, but objected to my minutes I arbitrary assessment, and in ten had the neces- that that was a sary funds. It goes without saying high- handed proceeding in the nature of a forced loan; but it worked. I understood music somewhat and was a fair bass singer at that time, before much open-air speaking to large crowds had strained my vocal cords to such an extent as to ruin my voice for singing purposes. I took the Sunday-school books to the public school and for twenty or thirty minutes every day taught the songs to the children, who entered into the practice heartily and joyously. Soon they became tiptop singers. Then I had them sing in Sunday-school, which gave pleasure to the adults. The Sunday-school began to grow; so did the audiences, to hear the children sing, until my Sunday- school became the pride of the neighborhood and the talk of the countryside. Once while I a m^a gave short talk to my Sunday-school about various matters, including the duties of citizenship. One Sunday, when we reached the house of Uncle ttillic Stephens, with whom I was boarding, he said: "You know well so how to tell other folks what they should do, I -will return the compliment and tell you what you should do you ought to preach! If you will agree to be a preacher in the Christian Church I will pay for your education in any college or university in America or in Finally, he increased it by saying that addition to or in footing my bills at any college university America or Europe he would will me half his property, amounting to twenty-five or thirty thousand dollars. As he had no children, it would have been no sin on my part to accept his generous offer, but my judgment was against so doing. It was a great temptation to a youth without a dollar, but I had no inclination or desire to be a preacher, having made up my mind to be a lawyer and, when opportunity served, to enter politics. I was afraid that if I accepted his proposition I might grow weary of ministerial work and abandon it, as General Garfield, Edward Everett, "Parson" Brownlow, Bishop Gen. Lconidas Polk, Sena- tor James Marian, and some smaller preachers had done. So I concluded to worry along and earn money enough by my own labor to finish my college course which I did. 1 had another experience with Sunday-schools to which I look back with pleasure. One Sunday 1 observed that very few young men attended the Howling Green Sunday- school of the Church of the Disciples. Consequently, during the ensuing week I put: in what time I could spare from my law business coward recruiting a class of j'oung men who were attending no Sunday-school. The next: Sunday I appeared at the head of a class of twenty-six full-grown young men and taught (In-m regularly until I became too busy miming for Congress. Some members of my class arc- very active and influential in Sunday- school and church \suik even to this day. Once in June my father sent me live dollars with which to come home. I spent ihe money for half-dollar paper- covered editions of the poets, took my old oil-cloih satchel on my back, and walked home, fifty miles, in two days, resiing occasionally uiulcr tin- shade- of (he lives to rrad ------muui LU aw van .&*-) -. ... very my r 11 fellow and the to this day. I was a lusty young long to make muscles tramp did me no harm except my leg incident down sore for a day or two. I set this here not so different because it is important, but because many various versions of it have been set afloat by friends in the newspapers. At Camden, in Anderson County, I had many friends, thrtfe of whom rendered me most timely financial assist- ance when I needed it most. They were Uncle Billie Dr. H. Stephens, a well-to-do farmer; Thomas Hudson, now a prominent physician at Kansas City; and Dr. E. E. Hume, who recently died, after being for years the leading physician at Frankfort, Kentucky. Hume and I boarded and roomed together at the hospitable home of Uncle I Billie, who was a remarkable personage. never knew a man of higher character or of more common sense than Uncle Billie, but for some strange reason he had never learned to read or write, though he was an elder in the Christian Church, a good business man, and an influen- tial citizen. He was eager for information and made me and others read to him by the hour. When anybody was reading to him, nothing short of an earthquake would distract his attention from the reading; consequently, when, an article was finished, he practically knew it by heart. He knew thousands of Bible quotations, and in his arguments on religious subjects, of which he was exceedingly fond, he would give verse and book with astonishing accuracy. Many and many an hour did I spend reading to him Lard's Quarterly, McGarvey's Com- mentaries, and books of that character. He had a fatherly love for rne, which I returned with filial affection. Uncle Billie's wonderful power of mental concentration has reminded me of the fine always story* told of Ar- i i \ f < . . his life largely to helping others, He and 1 became ac- while a Christmas quainted attending holiday singing- school, taught by my father in 1866-67, try churches near Lexington, of money. There was one man at Mackville from whom I could borrow money in small sums when absolutely necessary. That was Doctor McGhee, one of my old teachers, who modest Christian was a splendid but excessively gentle- man. I remember that while at Transylvania Univer- had a Webster's Dic- sity, a fellow-student Unabridged I hankered after that tionary for sale at ten dollars. for the dictionary. I wrote Doctor McGhee ten, telling him what I wanted it for, and he sent it, very much to it hack for a but I have my delight. I did not pay year, but I it that book yet. It is dog-eared and greasy, keep in memory of my good friend, though I have two or three of later date. The man from whom I bought that dic- tionary was an emotional young Irishman named Ed Kinnefick, who finally went crazy because he could not convert the world fast enough. Of him more anon. So far as I can remember, the persons named are all that ever lent me or my father money to help me through college. I will cherish their names fondly forever. Kinnefick lived at Centralia, Missouri, near the scene of the astounding victory of Bill Anderson, the guerrilla chieftain. Kinnefick was a boy of some fifteen or sixteen, working as a hostler in a livery-stable. Anderson's men that day were wearing blue uniforms and were pretty full of whisky. They were chasing clown Union men, shooting some and maltreating others. Kinnefick, judg- ing from the color of their clothes, erroneously concluded that they were Federals, so when a group of them rode to the up livery-stable and catechized Mm as to his poli- tics, he said, "I am a poor Union boy!" It's a wonder they did not shoot him, but they happened to be in a 1 i mi . . ''..*' . ... The way I happened to be elected president ot Marshall was this: I College when I was only twenty-three was at Bethany College only one collegiate year, but I spent the summer there prior to the opening of the term. Several students were there and told me who were certain of the the next first and second honors year. They remarked, to further, that I would he lucky graduate nt all in one 1 so, too, and, that year. thought knowing college teachers standing depends somewhat on and pupils under- habits standing the mental and idiosyncrasies of one another, I never dreamed of taking the honors; but I buckled down to my studies, nevertheless. The first month of that college session was one of the loncsomest and bluest of my life. Nobody knew me and I knew nobody. The other students were jolly among them- selves as "Old King Cole." They had a royal time, while I devoted my days and nights to my hooks. At Bethany they gave out grades at the end of each month. At the end of the first month I was ahead of all my class- mates in everything. The dlccf was electrical. It acred like a bombshell, showing me that I had a chance for first honors and astounding my compel iinrs by the same fact there being no law or tide against it. The students, the professors, and even the villagers divided into Clark and anti-Clark factions, as in polities'. The war raged with utmost fury till in June, iHyj, when the faculty gave me the highest honors, dividing the second honors between the two men who, I had been told upon entrance, were destined to receive the first and second honors. One of them appealed from the decision of the faculty to the Board of Regents, who sustained the faculty and wisely changed the law making two years' attendance a condi- tion precedent to competing for honors. 2s asked me theologian, Alexander Lampbell, r., what I I wanted to teach a was going to do. I told him year and then study law. He replied: "There is going to be a vacancy in the presidency of the West Liberty Normal School at twelve hundred per annum. I am one of the and I regents. Give me your application perhaps can get it for you." I wrote out an application, stating my name and age, including these words, "I am a native of Kentucky, over six feet in height, weigh one hundred and seventy-four pounds, have just graduated at Bethany College with highest honors, am a Democrat in politics, a Campbellite in religion, and a Master Mason." Of course I had no idea of obtaining the place, otherwise I would not have written such an application; but to my amazement and delight I was elected president of Marshall Col- lege at thirteen hundred a year instead of West Liberty Normal School at twelve hundred. Colonel Campbell did it. Subsequently, when in Congress, I endeavored to repay his kindness by urging President Cleveland to appoint him consul-general to Melbourne, but the President appointed another. After finishing my year as president of Marshall College and declining re-election, I entered the Cincinnati Law- school in the fall of 1874, graduating April 22, 1875, at the head of my class. I read law in Cincinnati with Bradstrcct and Riddle. My law professors were George Hoadly, afterward Gov- ernor; General Force, Alexander Morrcll, and Clement C. Bates. The law lectures were at night. It was at the time when had the they double-headed Legislature in Louisiana and political prejudice was at its worst. After the lectures were over we would resnlvp HIP rlcc ;,,*- ., [WU I did full share of argument. my debating, excitement ran in the Political Jiigh city. One night there was a vast mass-meeting in the Grand Opera House to denounce proceedings at New Orleans. After several minor orators had spoken, George H. Pendlcton, popu- larly called "Gentleman George," once candidate for President and later a United States senator, then in the his and prime of manly beauty splendid powers, was introduced. He received a tremendous ovation. I shall never forget the first sentence in his speech "The sweet- est incense that ever greeted the nostrils of a public man is the applause of the people" one of the finest epigrams ever uttered. in Among the Democrats that class were Thomas J. Hudson, of Frcdonia, Kansas, with whom I served in the Fifty-third Congress, and James Bryan, who afterward became Licutcnant-Govcrnor of Kentucky. Hudson was considerably older than I was. lie had been a member of the Legislature and prosecuting attorney of his county. He proposed to me (hat if ( would go to Kansas with him he would give me a third of his practice: the first two years, and half after that-, saying it was worth two thousand five hundred dollars a year and could easily In- made. worth a good deal more. That was an unusually good offer for a young man just admitted to the bar, so 1 started to Krcdonia, Kansas, where Hudson then lived and still lives. When I reached Kmporia, Kansas, I stopped ofl' to see an old Kentucky University classmate named John W. Lynn, who was in full practice there and wild was ten or twelve years my senior.' lie persu:uled me that Kredonia was not a very good location, but that Wichita was the cominc town. He said it was the- cniicr of ilu* TPY:IJ and that if I would cutting and shooting scrapes; go down there I would get rich. one of the best Wichita is a splendid city now, built as dead as a towns of its size in America, but it was door- nail then. The Texas cattle trade had moved up to Great Bend; the Mexican greasers had disappeared over the horizon; Spanish milled dollars were conspicuous by their absence, and business in Wichita was at the lowest ebb. In addition to that, everybody was scared half to death about the grasshoppers which had eaten the state up the year before. Wichita is built where the two Arkansas rivers come together. On the banks were an abundance of cottonwood-trees, the bloom from which the gathered in great quantities high up in air, and every- body mistook the bloom for grasshoppers. I made up my mind that there was no sense in staying there, as there was no law business to amount to anything, and if the grasshoppers came every year the country would he no good. So I concluded to get away, but I did not have money enough to do so, and perhaps would be there yet if it had not been that a man sent me twenty-five dollars for writing him a graduating speech at an Eastern college. I thought that was good luck then, but I have no sort of doubt if he had not sent me that check I would have been compelled to remain in Wichita, and if I had re- mained there that I would have been comparatively wealthy by this time, as Wichita is built in one of the richest agricultural sections and has developed into a great business and trade center. I knew Victor Murdock there when he was wearing which kilts, may account for some things that have hap- pened in Congress. His father, Col. Marsh Murdock, who was state senator, was then running a small weekly that I knew of as to how to get on, but Victor did not need much advice and got on famously. As a matter of fact, the grasshoppers traveled only as far south as Topclca that year, and so far as I know there has never been one in the state since. That was the year the grasshoppers got into northwest Missouri. Governor Harclin set aside a day of humiliation and prayer to rid the state of the grasshopper plague. That night there came one of the heaviest rains ever known in Missouri, and washed the grasshoppers into the Mississippi River. There haven't been any in the state since. Pious Mis- sourians who believe in special providences contend to this day that Governor Hardin saved them from the grasshoppers. There was an amusing sequel to that grasshopper visi- tation many years thereafter. Going home from New York in the summer of 1893, just after making my Tam- many Hall Fourth-of-July speech, the weather in Indiana and Ohio was exceedingly hot. I went into the smoking- room of the sleeper to see if there was any one I knew. It had only one occupant a good-looking, clean-shaved, well-dressed man, wearing, among other things, a white lawn tic. I thought he was a preacher, but I had a pocketful of cigars and offered him one, which he accepted. I inquired where he lived. Ho replied, "Iluichinson, Kansas." I asked him about the salt-wells and several other things in the Sunflower State. He said, "You seem to be well acquainted in Kansas." I said: "I lived in Wichita nine weeks in the spring and summer of 1^75. The grasshoppers drove me out of the state and I do not believe that there has been one in the state since." He looked at the floor a moment, and then, with an but we have something a had any grasshoppers since,

worse I" . d d sight . what is it? "In Heaven's name/' I exclaimed, and amusement he To my unspeakable surprise said, "It's Jerry Simpson!" Then for ten minutes he roasted Jerrya performance than in his Once much safer in Jerry's absence presence. a tilt in the House and he became when Jerry and I had tale on him, to the merri- too frisky, I told that greatly members. ment of the . , , in Some of the friendships which I formed Kansas in dear to and some of those old that early day are very me, few weeks in Kansas as a friends used my residence of a the Kansas in- potent argument in having delegation structed for me at the Baltimore convention, where, I Orr both Kansas and firmly believe, James W. betrayed a fat at myself. He is now holding position Washington, his boots for but in 1916 he was beaten out of National Committeeman by the outraged Kansas Democrats. While in Kansas I slept on a sofa in the office of Lawyer Ruggles and Doctor Fabriquc. A big-hearted German, now dead, named Fritz Schnitzler, credited me for meals. I feel under obligations to those people yet. There is also out there now Kosciuszko Kossuth Harris, but he cut it down to Kos. He is a stanch Democrat, as well as his father, Judge Harris, was before him. He wont with me to the depot the night that I left Wichita, begged me to stay there, saying that he and I were the only Democratic lawyers in town, that it was bound to be a great city, that the Republican lawyers were always fooling away their time with politics, and that there were so few Democrats around that he and I would have no temptation to play with politics, but could devote ourselves exclusively to tnP law nnn trpt- rirn Kr\c 10 i wr^-if rliil^c/-vr\Vir.i- Hie a half to hoc out his which I me a dollar and garden, did. but I that dollar and a half I blistered my hands, spent I took a like a thoroughbred. got shaved, young lady then to an ice-cream and retired to the theater, parlor, with as little as when I started in to my sofa-bed money in the About the 1st or to hoe the garden morning. a farmer down on the 2<1 of July prominent living Cows kin River, about twenty miles southwest of Wichita, came into town and wanted somebody to go clown and make a Fourth-of-July speech. He asked all the lawyers, including Ruggles, but none of them would go. Ruggles I be induced to The suggested that might accept. man said that if I would go he would give me five dollars to 1) and on the pay my expenses. So, right early morning of the Fourth of July I mounted an Indian pony, rode down to the Cowskin, made a speech in a fine grove, ate a most excellent dinner of fried chicken with the usual accompaniments, \\i\i\ then rude buck toward Wichita. Dark came on and 1 was lost. After wandering around awhile I saw a sky-rocket go up. I knew that was Wichita, and rode straight to the sky-rockets. When I arrived I found the twenty-five-dollar draft before re- ferred to.

In a day or two 1 paid Sclmii/lrr my board bill, and pulled out for Missouri. As 1 was stalling, Col. William Mathewson paid me ten dollars as a fee in a suit which I had instituted for him, and which suit, with his consent, I turned over to Ruggles. Th.it was tin- first money I ever received as a lawyer. I did not know more than Haifa do/en people in Mi.ssmni ami I did not know where they were. There was an old man at Wichita who had lived close to Mobcrly, Missouri, and be was always telling me me places naa oecn I went down there, little place called Renick. applied for the school, showed them my diplomas, certificates, to them that would not have and so forth, explained 1^ the school if I was not hard up, and induced them to raise the salary from fifty dollars a month to fifty-five, notwithstanding that I had received a salary of thirteen hundred dollars per annum as president of Marshall Col- in a lege, West Virginia. They very generously put clause that if I could get a better school they would let me off. The next d ay I went to the superintendent of the schools of Randolph County, a lawyer named Rutherford, who now lives in Stockton, California, to get a certificate. I explained the circumstances to him, showed him my diplomas and certificates of having been president of Marshall College in order to avoid the work of an exami- nation. It happened that he was born and reared in Pike County, Missouri, so when he examined my creden- tials he advised me not to accept the Renick school at fifty-five dollars a month, as Judge Orr was up the day before from Louisiana, Pike County, Missouri, and had told him that Professor Osborn had resigned an eightecn- hund red-dollar position in the public school at Louisiana to be president of the Warrcnsburg Normal School. He said if I would go down there and apply for the place I would probably get it. I studied the matter over, but did not have money enough to pay my car fare. I asked the old huly with whom I was boarding what lawyer's office was closest to her house. She said there was a young man by the name of Sam Priest, city -attorney, whose office was a few blocks I away. walked into his office, told him who L was ami what I desired to do, and that I wanted to borrow ten where else now, with a princely income. Pic is the first man 'but by no means the last man that I ever bor- rowed a dollar from west of the Mississippi. I went to Louisiana, applied for the supcrintcndcncy of the city school, and there was a dead tic for three days between me and Prof. J. M. White, who had been second under Professor Oshorn. At last they compromised the matter by giving him the superintendency and mo the place which he had held, cutting three hundred dollars oil' his to salary and giving it me, which raised mine to out: hundred dollars a month. I taught school a year ami then started to practise law. Pike County is one of the largest, richest, and most beautiful counties in the world, and if I had searched the country over to (hid a county which bad a surplus of good lawyers some of them great lawyers- -and where it would have been most difficult for a young lawyer to gel a start, I could not possibly have struck OIK- that exceeded Pike County. It had a population of about twenty-eight thousand people, and at that time there were sixty-seven licensed lawyers in the county about forty of them try- ing to make a living jiruciisinj; law. Among them were, one ex-judge of the Supreme Court, two ex-Congressmen, two ex-circuit judges, ;i man who was afterward circuit: judge, another who was aflerwaid judge of the Court of Appeals, another who w;is afterward slate .senator, another who became both state senator and lieutenant-governor, and one who was United States district attorney and is now a 1'Yderal judge. In addition to these were .several splendid lawyers \\lio never held any political ullice. It was very hard sledding for me, so much so (hat I got our of money eniin.lv and bought a newspaper on netlil, ran it for one rear, made tueniy-iwo hundred dollars ana valuable in my lite. 1 was elected city attorney re- and it. elected. I grew weary of that office resigned I in the lived in Louisiana, which is the largest town county and situated on the Mississippi, five years. Then in 1880 1 moved to the county-seat, BowlingGreen, where I live now. I am not certain that I ever would have got a start if it had not been for an practising law in Pike County accident. One man killed another and the two opposing candidates for prosecuting attorney volunteered to defend him, which, of course, disqualified the one who was elected from prosecuting in the Circuit Court, and the circuit judge appointed me to prosecute. I had nothing else to do, so I studied that case as thoroughly as I ever studied any case in my life, and did what a lawyer very rarely can do that is, wrote my closing speech and committed it to memory. The accused had been out on three hun- dred dollars' bail. To the surprise of everybody, I secured a verdict to hang him. The Supreme Court set aside the verdict because the Circuit Court permitted the jury to separate. Then the lawyers for the defense proposed that he should plead guilty to murder in the second degree and take a twenty-five years' sentence, and the presiding judge persuaded me to agree to it. He went to the penitentiary and died there. That case laid the foundation of rny fortunes as a lawyer. One of the annoying features of it, however, was that it took me nearly twenty years to make any- body believe that I ever made as good a speech in that old court-house as I did in that particular case, I was city attorney for Bowling Green. I resigned that office also. So I have two resignations to my credit, not- withstanding Jefferson's famous dictum. Then I was assistant county attorney four years, county attorney four years, presidential elector on the Hancock and Knir- ballot law, and of Missouri s anti-trust statute, which has been attacked in every court, and finally sustained by the Supreme Court of the United States. By enforc- two ing my statute attorneys-general of Missouri built up reputations enough to lift themselves into the guber- natorial chair. Under my statute more than ;\ million dollars in fines have been paid into the treasury of Mis- souri, and several trusts have been driven from the state. I was chairman of a legislative committee to investi- of gate the University Missouri, which made of that institution a university in fact as well as in name, placing it in the front rank. My experience as a lawyer has been the ordinary expe- rience of an active country lawyer practising both civil and criminal law, with a strong penchant for politics. I stumped the county and the surrounding counties, later the state, and finally the country generally during every campaign, whether I was a candidate or not. Some of the hardest fights 1 ever made inside of a court-house were made without fee or hope of reward to save from the penitentiary or the gallows some poor wretch who could not pay a cent, or to help some pour man or woman secure their rights in civil suits. In Missouri, while the trial court has a right to appoint a lawyer to defend somebody, it has no power to have the lawyer paid anything; so a sensible, right-thinking judge distributes what may hi- called charity cases among the lawyers, especially the yoiinj.; lawyers. I never re- fused in my life to defend anybody charged with crime when I was appointed to do so. One of the most peculiar and interesting civil cases I was ever engaged in involved twelve hundred acres of land, worth about sixty-live thousand dollars then; worth OJ OlO, It IS all orators Marshall, the most brilliant of Kentucky once denominated Wood- which is saying a great deal of the ford County, Kentucky, "the asparagus-bed garden but it is not more fertile or spot of the world"; lovely than Pike County, Missouri. In territorial days a young Kentuckian named Uriel Griffith settled in Pike, and was soon elected constable. He also taught school. From his two occupations he accumulated some ready money. When all the govern- ^ ment land in northeast Missouri -was by some strange cents hocus-pocus sold for twelve and one-half per acre as swamp-lands, Griffith bought sixteen hundred acres as fine soil as a crow ever flew over all heavily wooded, not an acre of which was swamp-land, though so classified as such by Federal government experts. Griffith had four children one daughter and three sons in age about two years apart. When we tried the case in issue the daughter was sixty-five and the sons sixty-three, sixty- one, and fifty-nine, respectively. Uriel Griffith was a hard-headed business man, honest and full of prejudice. When his daughter was fifteen she married a man named Clifford, whom Griffith liked. Consequently, he gave his daughter four hundred acres of that rich land, worth about five dollars per acre at the time of her marriage. In Missouri an "advancement" bears no interest a fact which caused the lawsuit. The land was worth five dollars per acre on her wedding- day. She still owned it when we tried the case, but it was then worth at least fifty dollars per acre. It is now worth from one hundred dollars to one hundred and fifty. As his sons became of age, distrusting their business 'fU'fJ VII U's (It II \\t\- ,

have sense enough to attend to your own business I will deed it to you," So the sons cleared off the heavy timber, converted the forest-land into splendid farms, built com- fortable houses and reared families some having grand- children. From time to time Griffith gave his daughter and sons each about the same quantity of personal property. So things ran along till 1883, when he had attained the of He called in great age ninety-three years. three of his most prominent neighbors, and had them divide what was left of his personal property equally among his four children, each receiving about twenty-five thousand dol- lars. Then he deeded the throe farms of four hundred acres each to his three sons the farms which they had carved out of the virgin forest, and on which they had lived for twoscore years, The land which the sons re- ceived was the same quantity for each, and of the same quality as that which their sister had received a half-cen- tury before, but it was worth fifty dollars per acre when tlxey got their deeds, Uriel Griffith reserved to himself only a pony, boasting, after the division of the property and the delivery of the deeds, that he had fixed it so that "neither the 1'rohatc Court nor the damned lawyers would ^ec any of my money" in which remark Uncle Uriel made the mistake of his life. Having disposed of his earthly estate, he turned his* attention to the saving of his soul. A preacher in the Church of the Disciples, or the Christian Church, or the Campbcllite Church, as it is sometimes vulgarly called, waited on the feeble old man, persuaded him to join his church, and set a day when the brethren and sisters would bring a bathtub ami immerse him. was him, explained to him that baptism by sprinkling what was that just as efficacious as immersion, and, more, it if he were dipped, in his weak physical condition, might in his kill him. So the ancient penitent, who long life to the ducats had paid much more attention piling up than he had to theological points, consented to be sprinkled. By one of those strange and irritating coincidences when a which puzzle even the philosophers, large company the Griffith of Disciples, male and female, approached residence with their bathtub to immerse that aged con- his vert, they met Brother Taylor Bernard with company of Presbyterians, male and female, departing in joyous frame of mind, having just snatched the nonogenarian as a brand from the burning, by sprinkling him! When the triumphant Presbyterians gleefully com- municated that fact to my brethren and sisters of the Disciples' Church, the latter were astonished even dum- founded. The first to recover power of speech was my cousin, J. W. Beauchamp, a prominent Disciple, as smart as a whip, whose daughter had married Mrs. Clifford's son therefore Uriel Griffith's grandson. Swearing being prohibited to Disciples, my cousin Beauchamp contented himself with saying, loud enough for both Disciples and Presbyterians to hear, "Old Griffith is as crazy as a bed- bug!" not very chaste language or classical, but exceed- ingly and sufficiently plain destined to bear much fruit and sadly to disappoint Uncle Griffith's jubilant predic- tion that the lawyers .would get none of his money. Of course, these unusual transactions created a great hubbub in that splendid rural community. For many moons they were the resounding theme of every tongue for miles around. In about two years Uncle Uriel Griffith departed this then by a second marriage Mrs. Bryant, brought suit her three brothers to set aside the deeds to their against fine farms on the ground that when their father, also her those father, executed instruments he was nou compos mentis. The battle was on, and it was hot enough to the most fastidious. please At the trial, one hundred and fifty-two of the best men and women in the community testified. All who believed in baptism by immersion swore that Grifluh was cra/y, and all who believed in baptism by sprinkling or pouring swore that his mind was clear as a bell. All swore honestly. The jury stood eleven for the defendants one for the plaintilK. At the next term of the court we tried the case again with the same cast of characters the same judge, the same lawyers, the same witnesses, the same instructions, and the same speeches as nearly as we could reproduce them from memory. Nothing had changed except the religious persuasion of the jurors. They stood live for the plaintiff, seven for tin- defendants. Six months later we tried the ease a third time under precisely the same conditions. The opinions of the jury as to sprinkling and dipping had changed still more and the jurors stood eleven for the plainiill' and one for the defendants- -the proportion of jurors in the first and third trials being predhely reversed. The accumulating ousts weie glowing burdensome to both sides, and we compromised the ease. Nothing, in my judgment, inlluenced the jurors except their belief in the various modes of baptism. I have always contended that anything that will pro- duce a quarrel may cause a li^bi, or even a killing. A quarrel about a penny dropping on the Hour may lead to CENTURY OF 1 20 MY QUARTER of Show. were there lived a family by the name They and fairly well educated. Old pioneers, well connected, man Show was dead. His widow had three grown sons and Parran living with her, together James, Marshall, with one unmarried daughter. Her oldest son, Morgan her house. He had Show, lived about half a mile from of Col. Bill Anderson been a captain in the regiment had his cour- the celebrated guerrilla chief. He proved He rented an age in many a hot battle. eighty-acre in corn. He sublet acres to prairie field to plant forty the three brothers Show. Then they fell out about where the division-line between the two forty acres was. The wide for four corn rows. strip in dispute was about enough For two or three weeks they plowed and harrowed with rifles and double-barreled shotguns strapped to their backs, all inside that eighty-acre field. One morning, shortly after daylight, Captain Show shot his nineteen-year-old brother, Parran, in the back with his squirrel-rifle, killing him instantly. Hon. Nat C. Dryden, one of the most prominent criminal lawyers in the state, and myself were employed as special prose- cutors in the case to assist the county attorneys. After a week's preliminary trial before the justice of the peace, we bound him over to the Circuit Court without bond, for murder in the first degree. The grand jury indicted him promptly. He took a change of venue from Bowling Green, the county-seat of Pike County, to Hannibal. The day before Judge Porter's term as circuit judge expired he turned Captain Show loose that is, he bailed Captain Show in a writ of habeas corpus proceedings. The prosecuting: attorney. David A. Ball, afterward stato there was no question that all he wanted to get out of for was to kill his mother and the three brothers. jail His case at Hannibal was set for Monday, the ninth 1882. On the second of day of January, day January I received a telegram from Jim Show stating that Marshall Show had killed Capt. Morgan Show and wanted me to defend him. It turned out that during the mean time Capt. Morgan Show had joined the Holiness Church and was very fond of arguing the correctness of the tenets of that church. He had also moved from Pike County up to Audrain County. On Sunday, January 1st, he was down in the neighborhood of his old home in Pike County, summoning witnesses. A man by the name of Weather- ford, who had married one of his sisters, lived on the south side of the big road which was the county line between Pike and Lincoln. It happened, by one of those curious coincidences that confound oven the prophets, that along about two or three o'clock on that Sunday after- noon Capt. Morgan Show stopped at Weather-ford's home, with the intention of staying all night. While he was there, about four o'clock in the afternoon, Weather- ford looked out at the window and s;i\v Marshall Show riding up. It was afterward proved beyond all question that Marshall Show did not know that Capt. Morgan Show was anywhere in Pike County or Lincoln. Weather- ford did not want blood slu-d in his house, so he went out to the yard fcinr, nu-t Marshall Show, explained to him that Captain Morgan was in the house, and that, while ordinarily he would he glad to welcome him to his home, he did not want him to conic in. Marshall Show said that he did not want any trouble with Captain Morgan, and turned his horse- and started to ridr oil*. Before he tot out of ear-shot, however. Mrs. Wriiihcrfonl. rhc SKI-IT wanted to see him to have a friendly conversation, before she finished talking to him Captain Show himself came in the strain out and began to discourse to Marshall used that had by the Holiness people, to the effect they listened that it was time lis- to the evil spirits long enough, they tened to the good ones, and invited him to get down and come into the house and have a friendly conversation. They started into the house in the following order: Weatherford In front, Mrs. Weatherford and her two and little girls following; next came Captain Show, Mar- shall brought up the rear. Weatherford walked on through the house to the wood-pile to get some wood, Mrs. Weatherford and the little girls started through a partition door into another room, leaving the two brothers together in the front room. Up to this point there was absolutely no controversy as to what happened. What happened in the house, at

least part of it, was that Capt. Morgan Show was shot in three places. One bullet went in a little back of the median line on the left side between the fourth and fifth ribs, counting up, and came out under his left nipple, lodging between his two shirts. Another bullet struck him in the right side, a little back of the median line, between the fifth and sixth ribs, counting up, and came out under his left nipple, lodging between his two shirts. The third went into the side of his head and is there yet. Mrs. Weatherford swore that just as she went through the partition door, and just before she closed it, she heard Captain Show say that they might as well settle it then as any other time. The door closed and she heard no more. She afterward claimed that she was compelled to swear that, and that as a matter of fact Captain Show stooped over to pick up a chair, and that Marshall shot him twice, as described above. Then Cantain Show tried on the face, his feet resting door-step, and Marshall came out and shot the captain in the head, but, before doing him about how he had their so, taunted murdered younger brother. What the truth was 1 do not know. I do know that she swore the way I have stated in the first instance; that we proved the threats he made in jail; that we set up his general bad character as a fighter nnd cleared Marshall Show at the preliminary trial before two justices of the peace, at Olney, in Lincoln County. Of course, considering his character and his threats, what Marshall Show or Jim would have been perfectly justifi- able in doing would have been to shoot him in a public place with abundant witnesses. Capt. Morgan Show had a small piece cut: out: of his right eye-socket. While it did not injun* his vision, it gave him a bad squint in that eye. I always supposed the bullet that cut that piece of bone out went from the direction of his nose outward. However, I never in- quired about it. In 1890, when I was making my first race for the nomi- nation for Congress, in a primary ck-eiion in Audrain County, which was the key to the situation, 1 spoke in school-houses at night and ranged out in the neighhor- hood during the day lo -set- voters individually. One night I spoke at a place called Miller's School- house. There was present ;i m;m named Capt. John l'\ Harrison, whom 1 hud never seen, Inn who took a great

shine to me by reason of nir .speeeh. After I had con- cluded he came up 10 me and said that I was going to speak in a school-house in his disuiei about four miles

distant the next night, and that if I would go home with him he would ni;ike me ae(|ii;iinted and iniroduee me to everybody. Iff owned a fine farm and had twelve ehil- a and he Next morning we started out in buggy asked "I know few me how I electioneered. I said: very peo- so when I am traveling by myself, ple in Audrain County, is in his field if I meet a man I stop him, or if he working tell him who I ask him what I go over to see him, am, a If he is a Democrat his name is, and if he is Democrat. I go to work on him. "By the way," I continued, "day before yesterday, a man in his up north of Thompson, I ran across plowing and he said 'Cross- field, asked him what his name was, wite.' I asked him if he was a Democrat. He said that he served under Bill Anderson during the war." Then I said to Harrison, "I was employed to prosecute one of Bill Anderson's captains for murdering his brother." Harrison held his right hand up and said, "You see that plug out of my little finger?" "Yes," I replied. He said, "The man that you were prosecuting for mur- 1 der is the man that shot that plug out of my finger.' I knew then that I had found the man who had shot that piece of bone out of Captain Show's eye-socket. I asked him to tell me about it, and here is the story he told. He said that he and Captain Show served together four years in the Confederate Army, served under Bill Ander- son as long as he lived, that Show was a captain and he (Harrison) was first lieutenant, and they were good friends. After the war closed he and Show settled on adjoining prairie farms. Harrison had a big wheat-field, Show had a big flock of turkeys. The turkeys kept eat- ing up the wheat. Harrison told Show that if he did not keep the turkeys out of his field he was going to kill them. One daV he had nn n Inntr-fnil frnrt-rniit TTnrl^r it ho He a eating the wheat. chopped big gobbler across the back and cut his backbone in two. The gobbler flopped his off over; Harrison wrung head and threw him into his the big road. He then went up to home, which was on the same big road, and began nailing planks on a on his coat. fence, still having long-tail Shortly after, Captain Show came along, saw the dead and of a man who was in a field gobbler, inquired plowing near by if he saw John Harrison down there. The man said that he did. Show asked him if he had a pistol. The man said that he did not see any pistol, but that he had a hatchet instead. Show replied: "Yes, damn him,

that is what he killed that gobbler with I He cut him across the back with his hatchet." So Harrison said that lie looked up after a while and saw Show coming, his sitting sideways on marc, with his coat across his lap and his right hand under the coat, and that he had no doubt what he had in that right hand. Tin: fact that Harrison was engaged in nailing planks on the fence, using his hatchet, confirmed the statement the man who was plowing madethat he did not see a pistol, but a hatchet. Show rode up, and said, "John, I have coine up to settle that turkey question." Harrison said, "It is as good a time to settle it now as any," threw dawn his hatchet, and pulled his army- navy. Show rolled ofT his mare on the far side, pulled her across the road, and made breastworks of her. Harrison shot at him four times. Show returned the fire and

finally hit Harrison in the linger. Harrison had only two bullets It'fr. He made up his mind very suddenly that unless he got thai: mare out of the way Show would kill him, so die next lime he shot lie missed and fell over in the road flat taneously. Show as a door-nail. Harrison on his back, apparently dead said he did not know whether Show was "playing 'pos- sum" or whether he was dead, and, not proposing to take walked him there. any chances on it, off, leaving lying The doctors were called and patched up Captain Show. a feud in the The neighbors, not wanting neighborhood, there should be no got them to agree that prosecution, and that should no apologies, no explanations, they resume their friendly relations where they had left off. would meet Both agreed to it. Harrison Show, speak to him, and Show would grunt. The bullet which hit across his nose and Captain Show, instead of going clip- had come from the ping the piece out of his eye-socket, other direction and clipped the piece of bone out, going into his head. The strange part of it is that a navy- as the first of a man's pistol bullet, as large joint thumb, could go in between the eyeball and the eye-socket with- out injuring his vision. This is the reason that Captain Show died with two bullets in his head' one being John F. Harrison's and the other being his own brother Marshall's. We cleared Marshall Show in January, 1882. I had never seen him more than two or three times in my life and I never saw him again until the fourth day of July, 1899, at Lexington, Kentucky. Congressman Jonathan P, Dolliver, of Iowa, and myself made Fourth-of-July speeches there that day. As I had attended the uni- versity there for more than three years and taught school for four or five years in three different counties within a radius of fifty miles of Lexington, a great many people who had known me in my earlier days came up to shake hands with me after the speech was over. Finally a smooth-faced. , about them. ing him Finally he said, "I don't believe you know inc." "No, I do not," I answered. He said, "I paid you two hundred dollars in silver once for defending me before a justice of the peace in Lincoln County for killing my own brother." I asked, "What are you doing here?" He replied, "I am attending Hible College) in Kentucky University." It surprised me so that T blurted out, "What the devil are you attending the Bible College- for?" He took my breath aw.-iy when lie said, "To prepare myself for the ministry I" Of course I knew that it was Marshall Show, as he was the only man at that time whom I had ever helped acquit for killing his own brother. He pursued his studies and began as a minister of the gospel in tin* Church of the Disciples, or the Camphi-llitr Church, lie was a very successful preacher. About two years ago he died in the odor of sanctity. Two ministers preached his funeral sermon and four acted as pall-bearers. J hope he has gone to hcavi-M. Here is another lawsuit out of the ordinary in which I was one of something like a do/en lawyers for thr defense thai is, there were thai many in the beginning, but they gradually fell oil* until there were only two or three of us in at (he finish.

When Grover Cleveland w;ts elected the first lime the

Democrats ;ill over the l;uul, m use ;i Western expression, "put the big pot in tlu- little one," and celebrated in every conceivable way- with speeches, banners, proces- sions, bonfires, music, inM iniuent ;il ;im! vocal, wilh Ko- m.'in c;iml!e.s, skr-iockets, eannon, ;nul exnlosives of everv they nad a tremendous aemonsciauuu, AUC were there by the thousands, enthusiastic, noisy, jubilant. on from Organized companies converged Mexico every in town, village, and hamlet in the county buggies, car- riages, spring-wagons, and jolt-wagons, horseback, on after bicycles, and on foot. The Democrats, wandering in the wilderness for a quarter of a century, had come into their own again. So "let joy be unconfined." In Mexico, as in most prairie cities and towns, the court-house is in a "public square" around which cluster the business houses. In and about the public square the celebration was held. The Ringo Hotel, a fine old hos- telry, stood across the street and opposite the southeast corner of the public square. The fireworks committee, consisting of four prominent citizens and, of course, Democrats, occupied the second-story east veranda of the Ringo. They placed their combustibles next to a win- dow in an adjoining room, leaving the window open. They had a small bunch of sky-rockets on the veranda

outside of and just under the window. While the jollifi- cation was at its height, in some way never clearly ex- plained the small bunch of rockets, etc., on the veranda accidentally exploded, communicating the fire to the larger quantity inside the window, so that for a minute or two the air was full of exploding sky-rockets, Roman candles, and other contraptions of a similar kind. It was a remarkable and terrifying display of pyrotechnics, as the streets for blocks were crowded with men, women, and children. A rocket containing a pound and a of ^ quarter explo- sives went clear across and beyond the public square, and Iiit a splendid young Democrat named Dowell in the face, and not only destroyed the sight of one eye, but broke in the bony socket. It was a horrible wound. :mcl cast a dam- dollars* damages, alleging negligence. The case was taken to Bowling Green, my home town, on change of venue, and I was asked to join the numerous Mexico the which I did. lawyers for defense, Among other things, the defense set out that Dowell was a part of the celebration, being captain of the Ben ton and therefore could not City contingent recover. The case was fought stubbornly, inch by inch, with a resulting "hung jury." All through the trial we admitted that the sum of twenty thousand dollars was not exces- sive if the plaintiff had cause of action. As soon as that jury was discharged Dowell filed an amended petition, raising his claim for damages to fifty thousand dollars. Before the next term of the court the Legislature enacted a law authori/ing either party to a lawsuit to submit as many interrogatories to a jury as the court deemed proper and pertinent. The plaiiuill', at the second trial, submitted several such interrogatories, and the jury re- ported back all these interrogatories, answered precisely as the plaintiff desired and as everybody expected, but reported also that they could nor agree on a verdict. The court sent them back to iheir room. The jury in a shore time came in with a verdict for the defend an is I The verdict- was precisely contrary to the answers to the interrogatories. The plaintiff promptly appealed to (he Supreme Court, alleging thai, as ihr anMver.s in (he inuiiTog.uojU'S led inevitably to a verdict fur (he plaintiff, he was entitled to a judgment, and that as the defendants had admitted that the claim for fifty t housand dollais was not excessive, he was entitled m a jmlgim-m fur fifiy thousand dollars all of which seemed logical. To confess the truth, I thought that that was precisely what would happen; Aucirain ma tneir Then the good people ot best to for his recompense Mr. Dowell injuries by electing hi m the collector of revenue for two terms best-paying office and within their gift a handsome generous performance. Rev. Father E. A. Casey was pastor of the Catholic One of his church at Montgomery City._ parishioners, a Mr. Donovan, was a big business man in St. Louis, who had a fine stock-farm near Montgomery, where he bred and trained trotting-horses for both pleasure and profit. Father Casey was a big-hearted, big-bodied Irishman, also a jolly as Old King Cole, very human, trotting-horse enthusiast. He owned a three-year-old blue roan which he named "Mark Twain" in honor of the great humorist colt Father and philosopher, and which Casey deemed a world-beater. Every trotting- and running-horse owner hopes that his horse will be a world-beater. That's the reason why so many horse-fanciers go broke. So Father Casey was not peculiar in his aspirations as to his "Mark Twain." His parishioner, Donovan, had his expert train "Mark Twain." Father Casey went to Ireland to visit his folks, having agreed with Donovan that the hitter's men should take "Mark Twain" on the circuit with Donovan's horses to get him used to the hurly-burly, but should not put him into a race until they reached Mexico, Mis- " souri, a great horse center, where he hoped to sell "Mark at a There was no fancy figure. dispute as to the agree- ment above stated.

After Father Casey renched Ireland, Donovan cabled: "My horses start on circuit to-morrow. Must 'Mark Twain' Father go?" Casey, with tin- prior conditions and agreements in mind, answered, "Yes." So (he- Dono- van horses and "Mark Twain" started on tin- circuit. V tO tflP a to warm him up when they met a sulky drawn by "Kirc a man who was Fly," and driven by drunk and who took the wrong side of the track, causing a collision in which "Mark Twain" was killed. Father Casey sued Donovan, laying his damages at thirty-five hundred dollars, alleging that Donovan had not lived up to the agreement made before the trip to Ireland; while Donovan, admitting the original agree- ment and conditions, claimed that the cable correspond- ence made a new agreement. Father Casey contended that his answer to Donovan's cable harked back to the old agreement. I was one of his lawyers. There were six trials before

juries, three of which failed to agree. Twice we secured n verdict for fifteen hundred dollars and twice the Court of Appeals reversed it am! remanded it for a new trial. An old saying hath it that the "third time is charm," In this case it was the sixth. We secured a judgment for five hundred dollars, which the Court of Appeals aiRrmed. Eleven of the jury were for giving us a verdict for fifteen hundred dollars, but one man said a priest or preacher had no business wiih ;i ironing-horse, and so they com- promised on a smaller amount. In the mean time the costs had become the principal hone of contention. Though Father Casey gained his case, it most eflecriuilly and forever cured him of the I rot ling-horse fever, though till the day of his untimely death he mourned for "M;irk Twain." "Pride goeth before a fall" is an ancient, saying. Car- dinal Wolsey who, though he delivered some far-resound- ing; remarks on that subject, is by no means the only person to have had sad experiences by way of illustration in his own life of flu- mich of lh;tl nrovrrh. 1'W soim? to a rude line of lawsuits; but I was destined awakening in Missouri are tried on that subject. Road cases before the County Court, composed of three judges without a I the for a jury. One day represented petitioners road farmer named which a plain, unlettered Thomas Murphy in order to build the road was fighting, because a small for strip of his farm would be condemned public use. He elected to try his own case to save lawyer's fees. As he was not of the legal profession, I did not attempt to have the rules of evidence enforced against him strictly, and the first thing I knew I was out of court. I have always believed that the court decided in his favor as a joke. I know it was a jolt. I did not hear the last of it for a long time, particularly from the lawyers whom I had before beaten in road cases. John Farrell, a witty Irish- man, who was both lawyer and editor, wrote up the case in a racy manner and nominated Murphy for attorney- general on the strength of his victory over me. Subse- if a quently, layman undertook to try his own case, wherein I was on the other side, I insisted on the rules of evidence being enforced on the principle that "a burnt child dreads the fire." Here is a case which would have irritated a wooden Indian or a graven image. During my incumbency in the office of prosecuting attorney a justice of the peace at the little city of Frank ford notified me that he had had a man named Prokorr arrested for arson, and asking that I come at up once to conduct the preliminary examina- tion. I found Arriving, Frankford in a great uproar, be- cause on the previous night almost every business house in town was burned. It was alleged that Prokoff, who had owned a small shoe-store, had, in order to collect in- surance set money, fire to his own shop, and the fire soread. rnrrphir /^env-nrlr. ~.,.. i _._ T i fifteen fixing bail at hundred dollars, which ProkofF could not give, being a new-comer and a comparative stranger in the community. So to jail lie went. Shortly he pro- cured an attorney who applied to the Probate Court for a writ of habeas corpus on the ground that the amount of the bail bond was excessive, but I swung onto him and the court denied the writ, declaring that the evidence was strong enough to warrant such action, and that, con- sidering the gravity of the offense charged, the bail was not excessive. All this was in the natural order of things. Prokoff s lawyer, Judge James II. Orr, now a promi- nent railroad attorney at Kansas City, was very shrewd. After the rage against ProkofF had subsided somewhat the judge, taking advantage of the fact that two of the richest and most prominent citi/ens of the town were backing the prosecution, got up a bail bond signed by men easily worth two or three hundred thousand dollars. A few of them knew what they were signing, but many of them believed it was a petition u> have Prokofl" released. Of course on such a bond lie was let out on bail. When he returned to Krankford this same lawyer met him at the depot witli a brass hand and a crowd of curious folks out for a lark, who gave him serenade. These proceedings so changed public sentiment: in Frankford thai, when the grand jury convened most of the witnesses had forgotten essential and incriminating facts which they had glibly sworn 10 at (In- preliminary trial; the grand jury failed to imlici JYokoH' and lie went scot-free. I always insisted that that brass band thumped Pru- kofF's case out of court. "Matches are made in heaven" is an ancient proverb originating in some faniastic mind and, like most orher nections wmcn most jnnuen_c school in Shortly after I quit teaching Louisiana I in that hung out my shingle as a lawyer delectable little There lived there a city in July, 1876. young lawyer who was named David Alexander Ball, city attorney. lie and I It so happened that by accident stumped the in the same county together, traveling buggy in the our we Tilden-Hayes campaign. On trip agreed to form had little a partnership. He professional business and I had none, but he divided his crust with me, which enabled me to remain in Pike County, where there was a superabundance of lawyers, big, little, and medium. We remained in partnership only fourteen months, but practised both law and politics in pairs for years, very successfully. We dissolved the partnership because he was a candidate for prosecuting attorney, while 1 was a the candidate for Legislature. He had already been city attorney and became prosecuting attorney, state senator, president of the state senate, lieutenant-governor, dele- gate to two national conventions, and came within a few votes of the nomination for governor. Indeed, he and some of his close friends claim to this day that he was nominated. He also came to he one of the best trial lawyers in Missouri. He is now probate judge. I be- came city attorney of both the cities of Louisiana and Bowling Green, presidential elector, member of tin; Legis- lature, permanent chairman of the St. Loins Democratic National Convention of 1904, Keprcsriuativr in Congress, Speaker of the House, and led on twenty-nine ballots at the Democratic National Convention of n;i2 for Presi- on dent, eight of which I received a majority and was entitled to the clearly nomination as a matter of justice, fair and dealing, precedent. I was finally defeated through the insmuruMUalirv of 11 f' 1 \V(\-t their machinery for controlling presidential nominations, and should certainly have been repealed when slavery was no more. When first elected to Congress I had a fine law practice, and Governor Ball still has a large business. He is a capital stump speaker, and when on his first- hand-shaker I ever legs was the best saw qualifications which are of prime importance in politics especially in country politics. Ball broke into the lawyers' big league to borrow a baseball phrase unexpectedly as to both time and man- ner. One day while city attorney he was standing on the street corner in conversation with Reuben C. Pew, high-sheriff of die county, and William Parker, mayor of the city of .Louisiana, discussing the weather, crop prospects, and other such thrilling topics. A humble, ignorant corn-field colored man approached and in- quired what lie should do to another colored man who had robbed him of his wife.. No three men betwixt the two oceans were more liberal with advice than the trio just mentioned. The. negro bad gone to the right place fora quick and certain solution of his dillicuhii'S. Mayor Parker, senior member of the group, rendered this fateful decision, "Shoot a hole in him that ;i dog can jump through!" Hull and Pew concurred in the bloody opinion of his honor, the mayor. The negro departed, while they pursued their conversation. They most probably would never have given another thought to the. negro hut for the aftermath, which was sensational ami astounding. About an hour afier the foregoing conversation Hall, sitting with li'-eN cocked upon the (able in his oflice, reading a law-book, was nueimpicd by the colored man, the air as Ball jumped about five feet into though he had been touched by an electric wire. As soon as he he swore at recovered power of speech that^poor colored him and man in a way that utterly dumfounded then summoned Sheriff Pew and Mayor Parker to a consulta- tion as to what had better be done. Sheriff The negro told his tale, whereupon Pew, who had been about the court-house long enough to pick up aren't we some law phrases, said: "Dave, accessories before the fact in this murder?" doleful countenance Ball replied, "Yes," with a and accent. Mayor Parker said, "How are we going to escape?" Ball, who had never tried a case in the Circuit Court, answered, "I will defend himi" Sheriff Pew snorted: "Oh hell! If you defend him a is they'll hang him high as Haman, sure as gun made of iron, and send you and Parker and me to the penl" But defend him Ball did and what is more, acquitted him thereby laying the foundation of his fortunes as a lawyer. When the jury first reported they stood eleven for murder in the first degree and one for acquittal. The judge sent them back to their room foi' further con- sideration. After hours of wrangling the one stubborn juryman persuaded the eleven to join him in a verdict of acquittall It is safe to say that Ball, Parker, and Pew never gave another curbstone opinion in a murder case. It will be remembered that Othello demanded "ocular proof" before he would believe lago in his charges against Desdemona. I once saw Ball win a slander case which I was helping try by introducing "ocular proof" of an important fact. A large man with an aldermanic abdomen, named Boothe, Barnes was acquitted and promptly sued Boothc for and slander. false imprisonment While Hoodie was on Ball the witness-stand asked, "Why did you conclude that Barnes stole your meat?" Boorhe replied, "Because he was the only man in the small to neighborhood ^enough get through the hole through which the thief entered." "How big was that hole?" inquired Ball. "Sixteen inches by eight inches," responded Boothc. "Is that the only reason why you suspected Barnes?" asked Ball. "Yes," said Boothc. Truth to tell, it seemed to those listening that Barnes was the only man in the court-room who could squeeze through a hole of the dimensions stated, and Boothe's evidence had a visibly favorable efFcct. Just at that junctures however, there sat within the bar, goggling about, a carpenter named Ike Newton, who liked to associate with lawj'crs and to watch court pro- ceedings. He whispered to Ball, "Any man in this room can get through that hole." "How do you know?" Ball whispered back. "OM" said Ike, "I have been building houses all my life and know all about measuring things." "How can 1 prove it?" Ball anxiously inquired. Newton said, "Keep Bootlie on the witness-stand ten minutes and 1 will show you," So Ball kept on spinning our hi.s cross-examination of Boothc until Newton returned wiih a frame sixteen by inches- eight under his coat. I landing it to Ball, he said to him sot In tract'. "Make Boothc stand up and slip this frame over him." So Ball asked Hoot he, who tipped the scales at two tne trame over m s quick as a flash ball slipped head to the floor. When it and pressed it clear down struck Boothe's capon-lined, protruding paunch it had to be it went to the pushed somewhat, but down chagrin of Boothe and the merriment of all others present. Then Ball asked the foreman of the jury, Judge Marion Rhea, who stood six feet two to stand up and put the frame over his head, and it descended to the floor easily. Boothe's cake was dough, and Ball secured a verdict against him for a substantial sum. When I began to practise law Judge Gilchrist Porter was the presiding judge. He was a Virginia gentleman of the old school a handsome, portly man of courtly manners and of profound legal learning, particularly well grounded in the common law. He had been circuit attorney, member of the Legislature, and for two terms a Representative in Congress. He was an enormous eater and author of a widely quoted saying that "a tur- key is too much for one man, but not enough for two." He was particularly kind to young lawyers. Shortly after George W. Anderson, a man of great parts, who was a colonel in the Union Army, and who finally achieved a seat in Congress, entered upon the practice, he was about to be put out of court on the pleadings. Judge Porter endeavored to help him by saying: "Mr. Anderson, are you 'taken by surprise'?" which is a tech- nical phrase; but he, not being up in the technicalities, and thinking that the court used it in the popular sense, exclaimed with much fervor: "Good God, your Honor, I am not only surprised, I am utterly astounded!" and so was the court.

In the very nature of things and from the necessities of the case, a lawyer in general practice is brought into contact with much human misery. A'lv indmnent is rhar divorce scandal would be reduced by one-half. Nisi if so inclined, could also do much to reduce it. prius judges, I love to recall the conduct of one such trial judge, Theodore Brace may his tribe increase! for six years on the Circuit bench and for twenty years a member of the Supreme Court of Missouri. He looked on divorce cases with an unfriendly eye. So one clay in the Rails Circuit Court a buxom young matron presented herself for the purpose of procuring a divorce, while a fat widower waited in the recorder's office near by to secure a license to marry her as soon as she was free. Nobody else was defending the suit, her husband pre- sumably being glad to be well rid of her, but Judge Brace took a notion to defend the case himself from the bench. He cross-examined her until he discovered that: her claim for divorce rested entirely on the fact that she and her husband quarreled occasionally. When he was through he said, in kindly accents: "My dear woman, my dear, good wife and I also quarrel sometimes, but wo kiss and make up again. I advise you and your husband to do tin* .same. Your petition for divorce cannot be allowed, and is then-fore dismissed." The buxom young matron and the fat old widower departed sorrowfully! It goes without saying that there, art- cases where noth- ing but a divorce- will suflicc. 1'W instance, I had the unique experience- of obtaining the fourth divorce which one of my ft- male clients secured from the same man, and between their first and fourth marriages he hud wedded three other women. When one of them would die he would return to his first wife: and persuade her to many him again. She was a trnod woman and he was a ihrifiv. Tom Marshall denominated "the spreeing gentry," and when under the influence of spiritus frwnenli he acted in such cruel manner toward her as, m the language of the intolerable." statute, "to render her condition The most bitter enemy I have on earth is he whom I forced to live with his wife three years. is divided to a In the large cities the law practice large extent into specialties maritime business, commercial etc. but a paper, real estate, criminal cases, country of of all lawyer is of necessity a sort "jack trades" or, more correctly speaking, of all branches of the practice. The best office to which a young country lawyer can be elected is that of prosecuting attorney, and it is of great importance not only to him but to the county. It forces him into the public eye as a lawyer, and if he dis- charges his duties well lays the foundation for a good practice. In due course I was elected for a term of two years prosecuting attorney of Pike County. That was in 1884, and I was re-elected in 1886. The general run of cases which the prosecuting attorney has to do with in his official capacity is much the same one year as another, but occasionally he must deal with one out of the usual order. Like the poor, we have with us always the prohibition, local option, and temperance questions, in some phase or other. On the subject of local option I had, as prose- cuting attorney, an unusually interesting experience. In the i88'5 Missouri Legislature passed an exceedingly strin- gent statute, known as "the Wood local option law." In September, 1887, when my second term was about one-half gone, the question was submitted to the voters of Pike County, and local option was adopted bv a rousine and a nne ot live hundred collars the maxi- year in jail mummade it difficult to enforce. My immediate Edward T. who was one of the best predecessor, Smith, all-round lawyers I ever knew, and I had enforced with with a vigor the Downing dramshop law, minimum of and had killed off the penalty forty dollars, thereby blind tigers, blind pigs, and speak-casics in the county. For once I agreed with Senator Marcus A. Manna's famous slogan, "Let well enough alone." But the people, thinking otherwise, voted for the severer law with great enthusiasm. It was easy for them to vote for it, but rendered it harder for me to enforce it. The next day, however, I published a proclamation that I would enforce it, just as I would on my oath of office enforce any other criminal statute, and warned all persons whatsoever to stand from under. The law applied to nil of Pike County except the city of Louisiana, which had more than twenty-five hundred inhabitants, and was, therefore', entitled to a separate election. Incidentally it may be stated that that city remained "wet" until national prohibition came into vogue, but in the rest of the county the saloons were wiped out completely. It is generally asserted and widely believed that drug- gists will not obey prohibition or local option laws. One of two things is true, however: first, cither this unfavor- able judgment on druggists is erroneous or, second, the druggists in Pike County in 1887 were exceptionally law- abiding. They joined in a petition to mi* to give them an opinion, in writing, as to what they could do and could not do under the local option law, pledging themselves to abide by my decision until the Circuit Court convened the first Monday of the ensuing March, when the instate- ior u i on the subject ot selling intoxicants, WCCK, puD- that under the local lished an opinion to the effect option no intoxicants the alcohol of law they could sell except commerce, and then for only three specific purposes: art, and medicinal, and then only on the mechanical, ^ pre- licensed I added that scription of a regularly physician. contained cent, of if a patent medicine more^than 3 per alcohol it was barred. 1 put that in because, at that cent, of bock time, keg beer contained 3 per alcohol, beer The have been 5, and whisky 21^. percentages changed somewhat since, but they stood at those figures then. As a war measure, President Wilson reduced the alcohol in beer to 2^ per cent. The druggists refused to buy proprietary medicines until the agents submitted their formulas to me. One man sent me a bottle of some brand of malt extract to pass on. I had no means of analyzing it, so I drank it and marked the effect. I wrote him that it was barred, as it contained at least as much alcohol as bock beer. Another sent me a bottle of "Blue Dick" cider, which I would not drink, as, by observing its effects on others, I knew it was not only an intoxicant, but poisonous. So I ruled it out without any ceremony about it. One day I had been out in the country fifteen or twenty miles on official business and got back to town about sundown. As I was going up the street toward home a veteran druggist hailed me and said, "There was a drummer here to-day and I ordered three cases of rock and rye. What about it?" I answered, "Doctor, you have drunk a great deal of whisky in your time, and I have drunk more than was good for me. If you were put on the witness-stand and sworn as an expert, what sort of a tipple would you swear that rock and rve is?" that order off," which he did. I never had any more trouble with the druggists until the Circuit judge at the March term so modified my that "a couch and four could opinion be driven through" the local option law to borrow a sentence from Daniel O'Conncll. As that large county was "dry" outside the city of Louisiana, which is on the extreme edge of the county, on the Mississippi River, it was inevitable that bootleggers would endeavor to ply their clandestine trade, I caught one and sent him to jail for twelve months, with a fine of

three hundred dollars. Another I sent to jail for six months, and that was the end of bootlegging in my bailiwick while I was prosecuting attorney. If all the rattlesnakes in the county had had hold of a man in the public square during the hist year and a half of my term of office, he could not have bought a drop of whisky in the town. lie might have borrowed one from the private jug of some Good Samaritan. A week or two after the first oU'ender was jailed for

twelve months and Fined three hundred dollars I learned that two eminent Kansas City lawyers, Colonel Gage and Col. Alexander Graves, ex-Representative in Congress, had visited the jail and held converse wilh the prisoner, 1 knew them both and they never even called upon me. I knew whai their visit meant and who was back of (hem, furnishing the sinews of w;ir. 1 knew ihar they were not consulting the culprit For their health or happiness. Tlu'ir failure lo rail upon me made me angry, and I mad*: up my mind thai if they took the prisoner away from me it would be only after a hard light. If it bad been a lawyer from 1'ike or the .surrounding cotmiies endeavor-

ing to rescue the prisoner, I would nol have caved very hundred miles away, should interfere witn the adminis- I concluded at once tration of justice in Pike County. law that they were employed to test the local option some way. So in a few days the thing which I expected happened. I received notice that on a certain day they would apply to the Supreme Court of Missouri for a writ of habeas of the of the corpus to test the constitutionality penalty it violated this law on three grounds: first, that clause of section one of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Con- stitution of the United States "No state shall make or enforce any law that denies to any person within its juris- diction the equal protection of the laws," Their conten- tion was that on one side of an imaginary line in the city of Louisiana, the minimum penalty for selling intoxicants was a fine of forty dollars, while on the other side of the imaginary line the minimum penalty was three hundred dollars all in the same county. Second, they contended the local option law contravened the Seventh Amend- ment to the Constitution of the United States, which is in these words, "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punish- ments inflicted." Third, that it violated a similar provision of the con- stitution of Missouri. The Supreme Court set a day for the hearing, about two weeks off, I had a set of Reports of the Supreme Court of the United States for which I had never had much use in my country practice and which I had read chiefly for the political decisions of that august tribunal, for many of its opinions are of far-reaching and enduring political effect. On this occasion, however, I dug into them most diligently to hold up my side of the case at bar. T nrvpr wnrtpfl en K-JW! r,v, ,, ,0., ;,-, ,,, Kf -,,-,,1 call in their failure to upon me. When the day for the hearing arrived both sides wanted to submit the case on briefs, but the court would not have declared it a it so. The judges that was case of first so far as impression, in Missouri, and, they were advised, in the country. Consequently they wanted to hear our us an hour on each side. arguments. They gave Colonel Graves opened in half an hour and Colonel Gage closed in the same time. I had an hour in between. Judge Thomas A. Sherwood, who sat on the Supreme bench of Missouri for three decades and who was one of the ablest judges ever members of that high court, was still on the bench, still in full possession of his splendid powers. He and I were close friends. I greatly admired him, but he indulged in a habit exceedingly disconcerting to a young lawyer, unless they were in agreement as to the case. If he agreed with the lawyer's argument he would, from the bench, ask him helpful questions, but if he was against the lawyer's contention he would interro- gate him in such manner as to bother him and weaken his argument. Knowing his trend of thought by reading many of his opinions, I had reason to believe and to fear that hi: would be against me in this particular case-, and the event justified and verified my surmise. I had not been speak- ing long until hi: iniemipied mi- will) this question: "Mr. Clark, do you not think that to uphold this local option law would work confusion worse confounded in the laws of this state on the subject of regulating the sale of intoxicants?" I replied, "If your Honor please, if would not work confusion. On the contrary, it would cure (lie confusion flrmr /ivlerinir \\/!lli AIM. i;,.-i\,.,'i l-tt ill,. ,.,it-i f A,* n,,i. H.MUW i But such is the tact, wnicn i uiu nut UMLH sruaien local this case thoroughly. This option law will wipe them all out and take their place." I a I then cited the seven statutes. saw broad smile of the four other and spread over the faces judges con- cluded that they were friendly to my contention, which four to one in they were; for the decision was my favor. It is the case of the State vs. Flem Swarm, decided in the 1888, and remains to this day leading case on that subject. That night I went to bid the judges, including Judge Sherwood, good-by. He taught me a valuable lesson as to arguing cases in the Supreme Court. When J entered his room, I said: "Judge, I know you are against me in this local option case, but I thought I would call to say good-by, anyway. I did not want to argue it, as it seems to me that arguing cases in the Supreme Court is a superfluous, if not an impertinent, performance, be- cause the judges are elected for the reason that they know all the law." He replied: "You are mistaken. The entire body of the law may be compared to the ocean, while n particular case may be likened to a particular route across the ocean, and while the court may know more law than any lawyer appearing before it, the lawyer knows more than the court about his own particular case. My advice to you is to argue orally your cases, especially if you feel rea- sonably certain that you are right in your conrcniions." It was capital advice and I have a very kindly feeling for Judge Sherwood, who died only recently in the de- lightful city of Long Beach, California. The upshot of the case was that Flem Swann served seventeen months in jail. One of the most nleasnnt mrmnnV*: f mir 1!fr>. wMrli their ni'St oncnsus twenty-live- young men wnom i coma have sent to the penitentiary Twenty-three of them ._ made good, honest, useful citizens, have married and reared families, and have in every way deported them- selves as patriotic Americans should do. A few years since a close friend to me was standing on the street corner talking to one of those whom I saved from state's prison. I spoke to them as I passed by. When I was out of car-shot the young man pointed to me and said; "That man made a man out of mcl" a eulogy well worth treasuring. At that time there was not a word in the criminal code of Missouri looking toward the reformation of criminals, but I felt that 1 had the confidence of the people and that they would back me up in any reasonable conduct. So I concluded to reform those boys without any law au- thorizing it a somewhat ha/ardous performance. Then Ohio was the only state in the Union that had a parole law, Missouri has one now, and it works well, so the trial judges tell UK:. Among the twenty-five, however, were two incorrigible thieves, who finally were sent to tin- penitentiary. One of them, a very handsome lad with as good a mother as ever lived, got to stealing from his siepfaihcr. That he- had committed a felony grand larceny -was clear; but I let his mother and his lawyer, (lovcnior Hall, cry me into letting him oil' with a jail .sentence and a lecture. He tearfully promisi-tl 10 |>e good, but in a short time he lapsed from the pathway of honesty, stole his stepfather's fine gold waich and chain, and pawned them for nearly their full value. The old man was wild with rage. Me had evidence in abundance to send the lad to state's prison. Again 1 was sofi-hearu-d and permiued Kail .1 ,1.. i. other crime while 1 was committed any ^ prosecuting to send him over attorney I would be compelled the would not stand for more road, for public opinion leniency to him. He took me at my word. My term expired and I was elected to the Legislature. While I was at to broke into Jefferson City helping legislate, somebody Ball's house and stole a lot of things, among them a suit of his clothes. After my service in the Legislature, one afternoon about dusk, I was in Ball's law-office at Louisi- ana. We were consulting about a case in which we were both employed when a heavily veiled woman came in and asked to speak with him in his private office. When they came out he asked me to remain in his office while he went to the calaboose for a few moments, after which we would go to his house for supper, where we could finish our conversation touching our case. When he came back and we started to his house he said, "Did you recognize that woman?" I replied: "No, she was heavily veiled and it was too dark. Who was she?" He gave the name of the mother of the boy previously referred to.

"What's he been up to now?" I inquired. He replied: "He burglarized a freight-car and stole a lot of things at a distant town, and is locked up in the calaboose, waiting for the sheriff to come for him. When I went down to the calaboose to sec him I called him up to the window as it was growing dark. He was slow about coming to the window and had to be invited two or three times. When he did come I happened to look at his and I'll legs, be hanged if he did not have on a pair of my trousers, which he stole out of my house while you were in the Legislature 1" in from the ex-judges Congress their judicial style of I am certain that I can speaking. reasonably name the from the ex-prosecuting attorneys savage manner in which they marshal their facts as if for a conviction. is It is a habit which sometimes as strong as nature. The best illustration, and the most amusing as to force of habit, is a story told of old Dr. Samuel Johnson, the author of the Dictionary and of The Story of Rassclas, Prince of Abyssinia. It is said that the doctor, the Ursa Major of English literature, went to sec a certain widow every night for several years. A friend asked him why he did not marry her, thereby saving himself the trouble of constantly calling upon her, whereupon the doctor roared: gruff old "Why, my dear sir, if I married her where would I go to spend my evenings?" The office of prosecuting attorney is an ideal position in which to make enemies, and to make them by doing right. When I was going out of that office I was nomi- nated for the Legislature with little opposition, and at the general election ran considerably behind the ticket on account of having discharged my sworn duly without fear or favor. Indeed, f was in Congress several years before I censed entirely to lose votes for thai reason. Finally it dwindled down to two Democrats who would not vote for me, while lots of Republicans did support me. One of the two would scrairh my name of]' the. primary ticket, though running without opposition, and he would vote for my Republican opponent at the general election. The. other would scratch my name of)* the pri- mary ticket, but at the general election declined to vote for Congressman at all, hein^ too stanch a Democrat to vote for my Republican opponent. lie simply haled me so as If at the close of a long service prosecuting attorney to number o'er the a man will sit down and try enemies discover that as he has accumulated, he will many of them hate him because he had refused to permit them the vehicle for the to make a criminal prosecution grati- because he had fication of private revenge as convicted them or their kinsfolks or friends. fact While I was prosecuting attorney one was im- with such that I "will pressed upon my mind emphasis is that a criminal statute cannot never forget it; and that be enforced unless it is indorsed by a con- successfully ^ siderable preponderance of public opinion in its favor well to a fact which legislators would do remember. Another lesson I learned is that the best way to get rid of an undesirable statute is to enforce it strictly. Having prosecuted and defended divers persons ac- cused of crime, I have necessarily seen much of the cither seamy side of life, but it did not cause me to grow hard-hearted or pessimistic. On the contrary, I have a better and kindlier feeling for the human race than I had when in the morning of my life. There is much in the criminal classes to excite compassion, for it should never be forgotten that the criminal tendency is a disease. There are thousands of men and women in jails and peni- tentiaries who should be in hospitals for persons with diseased minds. The most cruel thing about criminals is the cruel and senseless manner in which ex-convicts are cold-shouldered or even persecuted by the world generally. I thank God that their situation is growing better, even if slowly. I rejoice in every reformatory feature introduced into our laws parole laws, reform schools, etc. The old saying, "Once a criminal, always a criminal," is eenernllv hut nnt- nlwave fvuo Of t*f\\\vcr* cr^If.nr i-vmct We arc more and more trying now to help the youthful offenders to better lives.

1 held it truth with him who sings To one clear harp m divers tones. That men may rise on stepping-stones Of their dead selves to higher things.

It has always seemed to me that the wisest and most human prayer ever preferred at the Throne of Grace is; 1 ' "Lend us not into temptation, hut deliver us from evil. In the early days dueling was much the vogue in Mis- souri. One of the first things Col. Thomas Hart licntou did after locating in that magnificent territory was to kill in a duel on "Bloody Island" young Charles Lucas, United States District Attorney. Congressman Pettis and Major Hicldle killed each other in a duel, and many other prominent men carried their cjii:irrds to "the field of honor," among iliem Gov. B. (Jrat/ Brown, Gov. Thomas C. Reynolds, Gov. John >S. Marmaduke, Judge Abicl Leonard. Soon after Missouri was admitted to the Union, how- ever, she enacted the most stringent laws possible against dueling. She made- ir ;t capital felony to kill ;i man in a duel within her borders, and made it a penitentiary oficnsii to fight a duel even wherein nobody was hurt-- such as they indulge in in I'Yance. Likewise it is a peni- tentiary od'ense to cany a challenge, to act as a second, or to promote a duel in any manner whatsoever, ft is a penitentiary ollVnsc to agree in Missouri (o go out of Missouri to fight a duel. Nevertheless and notwith- standing, there were a few old -timers who liked the code. While I have always endeavored to be a law-abiding 1 and r , editors, Capt. J. C. Jameson Major J. Uowny. oi the kindest-hearted men that Jameson was one ever a he was an in lived, but had hot temper; Argonaut 1849, in a filibusterer with General Walker Nicaragua, a cap- tain in the Confederate Army, and adjutant-general of both Missouri and Oklahoma. He and Major Downy had been conducting a bitter quarrel in their papers. I with was on friendly terms with both, especially Jameson. One day Captain Jameson asked me to deliver a sealed I never that it package to Major Downy, dreaming con- tained a challenge to mortal combat which it did. I was innocent as a child in the matter. Downy opened it and became madder than a wet hen. He swore that it was against the law, and that he had a notion to send both Captain Jameson and myself to the penitentiary which was not a cheerful prospect. I grabbed the chal- lenge out of his hand, tore it to pieces, and then per- suaded Captain Jameson to let the matter drop. From that day to this I have been somewhat careful about carrying sealed packages from one person to another unless I have some inkling of the contents, particularly where one of the men concerned was so belligerent as Captain Jameson.

First look at that picture and then on this : One of the most unique experiences of my Kentucky life was presiding, when about twenty-one years old, as a sort of moderator in a theological debate betwixt Dr. D. B. Ray, a militant Baptist, editor of The Baptist Battle/lag, and Elder Green Anderson Perkins, a popular preacher in the Church of the Disciples. The reason I was chosen to preside was that I was the only person for miles around who could read Greek except the debaters themselves. The question discussed was not the mode of bantism for thrv and effect of immersion. On these points they were wide

apart. It was an outdoor performance for the all-sufficient reason that there was not a house in the county which would have held one-half of the vast concourse of curious folks who had gathered to listen to their champions. It in jvas a delightful day October, in a fine grove of ash, hickory, oak, poplar, sugar-maple, and dogwood, whose foilage an early frost had glorified in as many colors as were in Joseph's famous coat. The debate began at jo A.M. and ended at 5 P.M., with an intermission of one

hour for a basket dinner, and such a dinner I Chicken, fried and baked, ham, boiled and broiled, eggs, salt- rising bread, fish, quail, coffee, cake, and two or three dozen sorts of pies and preserves. It makes my mouth water even yet to think of that spread. For six mortal hours those two able preachers cut and thrust and parried and mauled each other in a terrific manner, verbally. Time and again I was compelled to call their excited and enthusiastic partisans to order. It was difficult to keep the peace, but some-bow I managed to do it by drowning them out with the noise I made pounding a strong poplar table with a hickory club as a gavel and with which 1 could h;ive brained an ox or a mastodon. It was a "no-decision" contest. I would not consent to ;ict as chairman until that point was agreed to, for I would as lief render x decision ar a baby show as in a theological combat. At sundown the pre.'it- crowd dispersed, never to meet: again till that m-inemlous day dies *>

I know not how others feel, but so far as I am individ- ually concerned I am glad they have been abolished that glad controversial religion is past and that practical religion is more and more. those Recalling years when wrangling, brawling, and sometimes fights about controverted theological dogmas were in I love fashion, to think of two humble preachers; one, David Bmnpr. n R^ntict- -K *-U a i- T M , nn TU ....;,.* of went about ing the example Jesus, doing good," and riding the hills and valleys spreading the glad tidings into the obscurest parts. They were unlettered men, knew nothing of rhetoric, little of logic. The Greek and Hebrew alphabets were scaled mysteries to them, but I never saw two nobler men, and they did a vast deal of "Brother as good. Mcrntt," everybody, white and black, male and female, old and young, rich and poor, saint and sinner, in three counties affectionately called him, left no data as to the results of his labors in the Lord's vineyard; but some four or five years ago "Brother Davy Bruncr," at the great age of nearly a. century, was interviewed by a newspaper man at Ilarrodsburg, and stated among other tilings that during his long life he had baptized about five thousand people, had performed about five thousand marriage ceremonies, and had preached nearly that many funeral sermons! What a record with which to appear at the Judgment Bar in the Last Day I Yes, here in the Speaker's rooms of the finest Capitol in the world, it is pleasant: to rest for a moment from contemplation of the great to mucmhcr these two lowly servants of the Master, at whose feet 1 sat in boyhood, and to rescue their names from oblivion. "Blessed are they that die in the Lord." CHAPTER VI

I was nominated for the William P. Taylor, legislator, hanged Legislature first by a grand jury.

F the membership of the Legislature in which I O served, three of us, Joseph J. Russell, Robert N. Bodine, and myself, got to Congress; and one, William P. Taylor, was hanged for five beastly murders. The present Congressman, Russell, was Speaker, 'and gave me choice of committee chairmanships. I chose the chairmanship on criminal jurisprudence because of much practice in that line. Taylor was the youngest man not only on my committee, but the youngest in the House. He was a good-looking, well-set-up, intelligent, mild- mannered, handsomely dressed, industrious young man; both a lawyer and banker by profession, a graduate from the University of Missouri. He was faithful in attend- ance both in committee and the House, modest in de- portment, and able to hoe his own row. Apparently he had as bright a future as any of the members. Looking over that body for a cold-blooded, fivefold murderer, a physiognomist would have passed him up, for none of us looked the part less than this young man, destined to die on the gibbet. It is fortunate for us poor mortals that "Heaven from all creatures hides the 13ook of Fate." When Taylor was hanged, besides the four other in- dictments for murder and one for attempted murder, comfortably on, with an assured position at the bar, in should society, and in politics, have proved to be such a monster of iniquity must forever remain a psychological to those interested in problem criminology. When he entered upon his criminal career no man of his age in that part of Missouri stood higher or had brig!) tor in life. To that the in prospects say developments his case utterly astounded all his acquaintances is to put it mildly. He was pursued by a scries of adverse accidents which is amazing, if not unparalleled. So far as was ever publicly charged, his first infraction of the law was forgery. A well-to-do fanner of the vicinity was very sick. The doctors said he must die in a few days. While upon what was supposed to be his death-bed, the farmer gave a check for two dollars to a hired hand for labor. He presented it to the bank of which Taylor was cashier and Taylor raised it, so it was charged, to two thousand. Wishing to give the farmer time to die, he sent the check by a circuitous route, expecting he would be dead before it would be presented for collection. The check came back to the rival hank on which it was drawn. There was either something sus- picious about the appearance of the chock itself or the cashier, knowing the farmer's characteristics and habits, deemed the check larger than he would be likely to give. At any rate, he sent it out to the farmer to inquire as to the facts. The farmer, to Taylor's undoing, being on the highroad to recovery, the opinion ofhis physicians to the contrary notwithstanding, Taylor was promptly indicted for forgery. The farmer's unexpected recovery was acci- dent number one, which U*d Taylor to the gallows tree. Taylor owned a farm about midway between Browning, fat both pasture and steers other pasture full of steers, a citizen of Milan. On Saturday, so it being owned by directed a man named Meeks to take was alleged, Taylor and also a a car-load of steers out of his pasture, car-load to out of the Milan man's pasture, and ship them Kansas the Milan man went down to City. Sunday morning discovered that a car-load his pasture to salt his steers, the went to was missing, hopped on train, ^Kansas City, and found his lost steers in the pen. Accident number steers two was that, had Taylor shipped the any other have been butchered and day than Saturday, they would in the freezing-rooms, which would have prevented the Milan man from identifying his cattle. Taylor and Meeks were indicted jointly for grand larceny. Taylor owned a small two-story building adjoining a to lumber-yard, the upper story being rented a pho- tographer, house and gallery both fully insured. Taylor, so it was claimed, for reasons of his own, set fire to the house, which fire burned up the lumber-yard belonging to another man the lumber-yard being what he wanted to burn. House and gallery were estimated as total loss. The photographer had a fine and expensive camera. Though it did not belong to Taylor, he was so greedy that he could not make up his mind to see it burn. Before setting fire to the house he removed the camera, secreted

it, and finally shipped it to St. Louis, where he sold it. In due time the photographer went to that city to pur- chase a second-hand gallery outfit, and found his camera accident number three for Taylor. He was promptly indicted for arson. Taylor and Meeks took a change of venue to an ad- joining county, on the indictment charging the larceny of the steers. Taylor secured a severance also a COn- TTlPn VIA lrM M^nUc f-Viit- if m'iM-siro ct-n/vl of assessed at the minimum two years, which by good behavior would be reduced ro eighteen months, and that he would support the family of Meeks while he was in and reward hint So the prison handsomely. poor devil, being friendless and penniless, accepted the proposition, assumed entire responsibility for stealing the steers, and went to the penitentiary for two years. A bright, ambitious young lawyer, named Brcsnahan, was prosecuting attorney of Sullivan County, in which all these crimes were committed. Me studied the Taylor cases till he concluded that Meeks knew about the forgery and arson as well as the larceny of the steers. Conse- quently, he visited the state's prison and proposed to Meeks that if he would make a clean breast of it and

testify in all the cases against Taylor, he would have him pardoned. Meeks agreed, and it was so done. Now, be it known that Sullivan County is in north Missouri, a comparatively short distance from Illinois. Be it also remembered that a deposition for the prosecu- tion in a criminal case cannot be used in Missouri, the constitutional provision being lhat "the defendant must be confronted by his accusers face to face" -also that a subpccna or writ: of aivju'liment issued by a Missouri court docs not apply outside ilu: state. Consequently, Taylor, reali/ing that if Mirks testified to all he knew, he, Taylor, was ceiiain to he convined, but thai if he could induce Meeks to K-;ive the slate and slay out of it he would go .scot-free. So, as eon IT was approaching, he made Meeks a proposition that if he \voiild leave Missouri and stay out of the stair, hr would convey him, his family and belongings, io Illinois, in a good two-horse wagon, drawn bv !\vo valuable horses, and at the end of the journer would give him the wauoii and learn, loiiether ana Meeks arrangement, but without avail, accepted, going blindly to his doom. One dark night Taylor and his younger brother, George, loaded Meeks, his wife and four children, with their household goods, into the wagon, starting ostensibly for Illinois. When they reached George Taylor's farm they killed with an ax Meeks, his wife and three children, hiding the bodies in an old strawstack. They cut the in fourth child, a little girl six years old, the head with the ax and, thinking she was dead, chucked her with the rest into the strawstack.

Next morning the little girl crawled out of the straw- stack with her hair all clotted with blood. She had no idea where she was. In sight of where she stood, at a distance of about two hundred yards, was George Taylor's house. About equidistant in the opposite direction, also in sight, was the house of a widow in no way related to the Taylors. If the child had gone to George Taylor's she would most certainly have been murdered instanter. But, by a most marvelous coincidence, she went to the widow's house and said that her mother, father, brothers, and sister were asleep in the strawstack. The widow alarmed the neighbors and the hunt began. George Taylor had been seen early that morning harrow- ing around the strawstack evidently to obliterate the wagon tracks, which would be a clue that he was mixed up in the murders. As soon as he learned that the little girl had crawled out alive he mounted a fine horse and went to Browning as fast as the horse could run, and informed his brother of what had happened. They armed themselves to the teeth, took what money they wanted from the bank, and left for parts unknown. A mob speedily formed, but could not catch them. Several davs tnat developed aitcrwaru tney were trying to get to Honduras. While staying in the hamlet Capt. Jerry C. South, a young lawyer, cx-Licutenant-Govcrnor of Ar- kansas, now chief clerk of the House of Representatives, with the talents and instincts of a Vidocq, a Pinkerton, or

a Burns, highly developed, happened to ride over to the hamlet which was some miles from his residence. Strangers were scarce in that neighborhood, it being at that time a railroad. far removed from South saw the strangers and observed that they had gold watches, two revolvers each, and rode magnificent horses. Also that they wore Prince Albert coats, with skirts frayed by briers and bushes. In addition, lie noted the fact that their beards were of a growth of two or three weeks. While riding home it kept running through his mind that he had somewhere seen the pictures of those men. Reaching his residence, ho dug into a pile of St. Louis their papers, found pictures, and also discovered that there was a reward of live thousand dollars for their ap- prehension. He determined to capture them, but how? That was the rub. If he went back to the hamlet with his shotgun they might see him first and either kill him or escape. If he undertook to bag them with only a revolver, it was a game of two to one in their favor. Finally he resolved on this plan of action, lie rode back to the hamlet armed with revolvers, hut lit* knew that the keeper of the store where they loafed had. a fine double- barreled shotgun in the back room. So he entered the store and found tbe Taylors still there. He asked the storekeeper for SOUK- anirU: wh it'll was kept in the back room, into which they wt-iu. Being in, be- told the mer- chant that he wanted to borrow his gun, to which the storekeeper was agreeable. Captain South threw out the. so that the state convention, to which It happened ^ a was to meet at Little Rock Captain South was delegate, most of that week. He took the Taylors with^him the sat in the way by boat and for two days they convention with him unmanacled, and, as far as appearances went, that never as free as any other men in city. They tried because on the boat to escape; partly, no doubt, Captain his marvelous skill of marks- South gave examples of heads off manship with a revolver by shooting the turtles which his sunning themselves on logs, gave prisoners a time he wholesome respect for him. In due delivered them to the Missouri authorities and collected the reward. They were tried before Judge W. W. Rucker, now and in and for many years past a Representative Congress, sentenced to be hanged. A few days before the appointed so far as the time they broke jail. George escaped and, public knows, has never been heard of since. Bill was recaptured before he got out of the jail-yard, and was hanged by the neck till he was dead. I did not desire to go to the Legislature when I did, and served only one term. I went by reason of one of the queerest capers ever cut in politics. I was first nominated by a grand jury. It happened thus: I was closing my second and last term as prosecuting attorney. When the grand jury had finished its business, Judge John McCune, foreman, one of the best men I ever knew, said: "Clark, you should go to the Legislature. It's an important re- vising session." I thanked him, but toltl him I could not afford to go that after a long and hard scuffle I had gotten a footing at the bar, was building up a good prac- tice, and didn't want to throw away an opportunity which might not return. He put it to the grand jury which was unanimous, though one was a bitter Republican. TheV Daid mV alinoiinrpmpm fpp :mrl t-l-w* nrimnru ritfifiprl CHAPTER VII

The Norton and Robinson feud Colonei f hit ton ROC to Confess by Norton's - and Robinson's ilelcnau-8 -Tlic "Ilip-a-tlnllar" noinmaiion of Norton - 1 Then came the Ctork-aiul-Nortun campaign uf six nwiulis incessant strug- nomination. gling, and Clark's

DID not go to Congress as soon as I expected I would I when I was plowing, worming tobacco, binding wheat, mauling rails, hoeing corn, and breaking rocks with a sledge-hammer, down in Kentucky. It was not a case of "hope deferred" which "makcth the heart sick," for I always believed that I would reach the Congressional goal sonic time. I had a good, growing law business and was prospering moderately. The chief reason for the. delay was that when 1 went: to Missouri I located in ;i Congressional district- win-re there wen: more Democrats in the prime of life lit to be Members of Congress -,-jlI of them older than I- --their agc-s ranging from thirty to sixty than in any other nir;il Congressional district in the United States. Judge A. II, Huckner, long time chair- man of tin- grt-at Commit lee on Banking ;md Currency, served twelve years, the longest anybody has served from the district except my si- If. lie and I are the only two men to secure more than two terms from that bailiwick so rich in Congressional timber. IK- could have easily remained in Congress all his life, for he possessed the

cn rnnlldiMirc nl Ili^: cnn^t it iiciil . wlin xvi. n- iir/m/l tne a opened the way tor to their hats into the coveted his place, but feared shy veteran statesman who had led a ring against the high than twoscore They deemed public career of more years. him invincible as he surely was. When he voluntarily quit the Congressional field the situation was what it always is at the close of a long over on service two generations of candidates lapped each other. A free-for-all fight of great intensity and other of the same ferocity ensued, which, with four fights and turmoil for a decade. sort, kept that district in uproar When I first reached Congress the district was popularly called "The Bloody Ninth." Now it has the more pleas- of ing sobriquet of "The Peaceful Ninth," every particle factionalism having "gone where the woodbine twineth." There were then nine counties in the district. Ten men declared themselves candidates for the Democratic nomination for Congress and about a dozen more of us wanted to declare, but for one reason or another did not chiefly because we had no political machines. Judge Elijah Robinson, the youngest Circuit judge in the state, and Judge William H. Biggs, subsequently judge of the St. Louis Court of Appeals, both of Pike, settled their contention in a Pike County primary, Robinson winning. Consequently only nine candidates went before the dis- trict convention nine strong, ambitious men, who fought for a seat in the House of Representatives as though it were the crown of the Bourbons. The contest attracted the attention of the state and wrecked many fortunes. They had one of the old-fashioned conventions, where the "favorite son" business was worked for all that it

was worth. All the arts of old-time politics were prac- tised to the limit. They met in Montgomery City and balloted twenty-two hundred times without selecting a

the strongest two were Judge Elijah Robinson, of Pike County, now one of the leading lawyers in Kansas City, and Col. Richard H. Norton, of Lincoln County, They were the same age. They were two of the most success- in state. ful lawyers the They had read law together in the same office when they were lads and fell out while reading law, so that to the ordinary political complications was added that of the personal feud between these two very the capable men. What was original cause of the mutual animosity I do not know, but whatever it was it had much to do with their three races for Congress against each other. In 1884 Colonel Norton got within one vote of the nomination, but he could not get the one vote needful, so, to thwart his enemy, Robinson, he threw his whole strength to Col. John K. Mutton, who had only ten votes in the convention, and nominated him. Iluttun was a doctor, a lawyer, an editor, and had been a colonel of approved courage in the Union Army. In apparel he was a Beau Hrummcll. He was a man of high character and Chcsterlieklian manners. Withal, he was as proud as Lucifer. No man ever expressed his opinions of men and things with more ninav.ing abandon, lie called a n If spade spade. hi- thought a m;m wa.s a liar, coward, or double-dealer, lie s;iid .so. Once, jnsl after the close of the Civil War, when ii was risky to make a Democratic speech in Missouri, tin- colonel wa.s making one- -a red- hot out; at thai -siandin/; in ibe judge's stand in a cer- tain court-house. A lut of fellows well "lighted up" in the rear of the room started toward him, shaking their fists and lul ;mii milking .*in/;iy threats as to what they would do to him; whereupon he- stopped his spcocli, over jumped the judge's stand, drew his- revolver, and invited them to "rnmr nit"! Tlw-u <.IMMM,.,| ^^MMM!,, His nerve was equal to his politeness which is saying a great deal. In 1886 we went through the very same performance, except that one candidate had died, one had dropped out, and a new one was added. We had two conventions, with an aggregate of over four thousand ballots. Judge Robinson came within one vote of getting the nomina- tion and could not get it, so, to spite his enemy, Norton, he threw his strength to Colonel Hutton and nominated him again. In this way Colonel Hutton, who had no such following as Robinson or Norton, and who spent no money and little time or energy in campaigning, served two terms in Congress. In 1888, all of them that were alive ran again, except Colonel Hutton, with one new man added to the list. They had a deadlock convention at Warrenton. Some- body suggested that as Norton and Robinson the two leading candidates were cutting each other's throats all the time, others being the beneficiaries of their warfare, both of them could to if go Congress they would flip a dollar for the nomination, the one winning to go the first two terms and the one defeated to go the next two terms. So they flipped the dollar. Colonel Norton won, was nominated and elected by a reduced majority, which was not to his discredit, as the feeling was so intense that any other candidate would have received a reduced majority. I have never believed that a man has a right to run for office and worry himself and his friends unless he has a fair chance of succeeding, but in 1890 I reasoned it out this There was so way. much bad feeling about the flip- ping of the dollar and about the three long-drawn-out and bitter contests that I knew some Democrat would oppose Colonel Norton for the nomination. I believed, a of votes out of a of in 1890 and change forty-four poll hundred in the in Audrain thirty-three primary County, which then held the key to the situation absolutely, would have given me the nomination and the election. The truth is I came nearer beating Colonel Norton than I either he or I thought would. I heard that after it was all over the colonel, who was endowed with a keen sense of humor, gave some of his cronies this account of that race: "When Clark began his campaign in Audrain," he is reported to have said, "my friends wrote me that he was shelling the woods in the far readies of the county, but that I could remain in Washington certain of rcnomi- nation. In about a week later they wrote me that he was making sonic progress, and while there was no danger I had best come home a week before the primary and stump the county. In a few days they wired me the situation was critical and (hat I muse come at once, which I did." After he was nominated I supported him loyally, stumping the district for him. That campaign illustrates forcibly what personal solici- tation and a house~to-hou.se campaign will accomplish. 1 knew very few voters in Audr:nn-~-nonc at all in the western half of the county. All tlu: newspapers in the county except one were for Colonel Norton. So were nearly all the county officials and politicians, lit: had canvassed the county in three previous races and bad the prestige of possession, which, according to an old saying, is nine points of the law. Not: one man in ten in the county even among those supporting me be- lieved when I began that J bad a ghn.si of a show to carry Auclrain. I spoke in the school-houses ;it night and but- tonholed the voters most industriously in the daytime.

lo illustrate: Saline lown.shin. in Amlr-iin. i ; , fin,.. on the It lies immediately north of Sturgeon, Wabash which is not in our Railroad, in Boone County, Congres- most of sional district. The people of Saling, them, mail from and to trade at Sturgeon, receive their there, the town. I did not know a soul a large extent support to form their in Saling township, but I proposed acquaint- I ance. So I went to Sturgeon, where knew only three in men. I asked them what my chances were Saling. They said I had none. I inquired why. They bluntly said that nobody knew anything about me, but they did know that Colonel Norton was in Congress; that the rule was that a man should have a second term, and, what was more, they were weary of the constant and district. suicidal fighting among Democrats in the be I inquired if the good people of Saling could induced to attend a public speaking. The answer was: "Yes. They are fond of that." One of these men was Doctor Keith, who practised all over the township. The second was Hon. Henry L. Gray, ex-merchant and ex-editor, a politician of high degree. The third was Hon. Thomas S. Carter, a lawyer of large practice, especially among the Saling people. These three men all dead now, and whose memory I fondly cherish sympathized with me. They thought I was on a fool's errand and I am sure they felt sorry for me. They laid their heads together, however, arranged for me a string of appointments cov- ering the township in school-houses and made me an accurate map, showing the house of every Democratic voter and memoranda giving names and minute bio- graphical data. Then they advised me to employ a liveryman named Joe Palmer, who knew the people and the roads thoroughly, to haul me over the township. Thus equipped and thus chaperoned I sallied forth, spoke '_!_*. .._ __! 1 ll _ . .1 A change of forty-four votes would have given me the and the election. I county, the nomination, have always had not rain-storms the believed that kept people away have for on two nights I would won, that was the only in which I canvass I ever made knew I made votes every time I spoke. In 1892 they cleared the decks to let Colonel Norton and me fight it out. Colonel Norton was n man of com- over feet, as an manding presence, six^ straight arrow, smart as a whip, a good mixer, and an effective stump he a substantial speaker. Moreover, possessed bank- account and was not afraid to draw on it. Both of us of life. were right in the prime He was a year and a half older than I. If they had combed the United States over for two young men, strong beyond the average physically, who were determined to go to Congress, (hey could not have selected two filling the bill better than Colonel Norton and myself. To use a phrase indigenous to Mis- souri, we were both "strong as mules and tough a.s whit- leather." There were oilier men in the district ambitious for the high honor, but: the voters did not encourage their aspira- tions. They wanted the hitter factionalism in the dis- trict settled by a linish light. This sentiment was so pronounced that the dark horses remained in their stables with such p;itience ;is they could muster. They may have champed their hits savagely and pawed (be bottom of their stuffs ferociously, but; they did no audible neighing. We began the 201 h of March. We finished the 3ist of August. In all ih.'M lime there were not fociy-right consecutive hours in which either of us could rest. We both went armed to the teeth, expecting a shooting- which we had but not together, in Audrain, contested That stubbornly inch by inch in 1890. county in the new district was not decisive of the contest, as it had ^ been in the old, but its vote was large and important. The weather was simply execrable. That's the only it. I know not word that fitly describes whether the three witches in Macbeth ever met "again, in thunder, I do know that Colonel lightning, or in rain," but Norton in and and I began that campaign "thunder^ lightning, in addition. in rain," with snow and sleet Not only similar conditions began so, but continued under for many days. The rich, black, alluvial mud was, as a rule, knee-deep, sometimes much deeper. We plowed and waded through it resolutely, if not cheerfully. Each of us might have been nicknamed, and not inappropriately, "Rain-in-the-Face," because we braved so many rain- storms and were wet and muddy for a month. Being very susceptible to hoarseness, I carried with me con- stantly a bottle of horse liniment and about a half-yard of red flannel. Every night I anointed my throat and breast liberally with the liniment, heated the red flannel as hot as possible, clapped it on throat and chest, went to bed, and slept like a top. Otherwise I would have broken down with hoarseness and cold on my lungs. What remedy, if any, he used this deponent sayeth not, because he knoweth not. It would not be much exag- geration to say that we wallowed through that campaign in Audrain.

1 swept the county by eight hundred and sixty-eight majority. Outside of Crawford County in the Ozarks, each of us had thirty-one delegates. The way that happened was this: The custom in constituting a convention was that ,-. Crawford had selected delegates or were certain for the one or the other of us. It must be remembered that the counties voted under the unit rule. On the basis of the vote I had last presidential thirty-five delegates and Colo- nel Norton thirty-two, outside of Crawford. But sud- den)/ the Congressional Committee, which was friendly issued the for to him, convened, call the convention, fixing the basis for delegates on the ofF-year vote of 1890, by which I lost four delegates and Colonel Norton onea net loss of three to me, with the result that outside of Crawford there would be a tic thus in effect conferring on Crawford, a new and remote county in the district, the honor and power of selecting a Representative in Congress, On the part of my friends a great uproar ensued. They denounced the action of the committee in lan- guage not fit to be mentioned to ears polite; they got up protests numerously signed; they did all that mortal man could do, short of physical violence, but without avail, The Congressional Committee was deaf, dumb, and blind as to their protestations, objurgations, ami maledictions. The commit tee stood by its guns without flinching or wave-ring. There was nothing to do about it except to grin and bear it which I did. In 1894, when the tables were.: turned and the Con- gressional Committee, then friendly to mo, performed the same strong-arm stunt by basing delegates on the Congressional vote of iHc;a insread of on the presidential vote of that year, thereby placing my renomination be- yond a pcradventure, so that I hail no opposition in the convention, Col. John VV. Jacks, editor of The Mont- gomery Standard, now my very good friend, I hen decidedly otherwise, sadly and tersely remarked in bis paper: "It would be, a blamed iioml I hint? if die CoMinvssinn:il Com- even more vigorous and somewhat sulphurous, and, to I would not have criti- tell the plain, unvarnished truth, cized him had he sworn after the manner of a Jack Tar or the "Army in Flanders." The action of the Congressional Committee having narrowed the contest to Crawford, Colonel Norton and to her to that I, both utter strangers people, proceeded last of our county and entered upon the lap Congressional Marathon. It was a fight for blood. No quarter was asked, expected, or given. We worked, talked, and wrote incessantly. We made stump speeches, two daily, some- times three. We solicited votes personally. We trav- eled in passenger-cars, on freight-trains and hand-cars; in buggies, on horseback, and occasionally on foot. We had friends and agents by the dozen traversing the county, as old man Harper of Kentucky proudly boasted he ran his horses, "from eend to eend." We never let up for rain, hail, snow, flood, storms, mud, dust, cold, or heat. On March 20th I weighed two hundred and ten. In November I tipped the scales at one hundred and eighty- five. I had worked and sweat off twenty-five pounds and was "hard as nails." Colonel Norton was in the same condition. We were down to our fighting weights in pink of condition. In short, we did everything possible that was proper, and, in the retrospect, I arn inclined to believe that we did some things which were not strictly proper. Large in area, hilly, almost mountainous in parts, sparsely populated, cut by mountain streams which sud- denly became raging torrents, past fording, at every heavy rain and it rained almost every day Crawford was exceedingly difficult to canvass. Nevertheless, there is hardly a quarter-section of land within her wide-ex- buttonholed If any voter escaped being by both of us it was because he "saw us first" and was too fleet of foot. It was a six weeks' man-hunt. We both had our wives down there to aid and comfort us. My wife came down with her our infant first, bringing son, Bennett Champ, then a wee toddler two and a half years old, now a strap- six-footer. He was a ping big upstanding colonel of infantry in our army in Europe. There was only one a negro in the county, George, factotum of the only hotel in the city of Cuba, good-natured, kind-hearted, who frequently looked too long on the wine when it wns red jn the cup in his case "mountain dew/' or in plain words moonshine whisky. He and Bennett struck up a warm friendship. Mrs. Clark came down first and the Norton adherents made merry, but they soon changed their minds and Colonel Norton sent for his wife. It should be written down here thai: while these two women entered thoroughly into the spirit of the campaign and worked like beavers in all decent ways for the success of their husbands, they never violated the proprieties in the slight- est manner. I began the canvass in Crawford, wearing heavy winter clothes, including a big chinchilla overcoat and arctir overshoes. June 2.}th, the day of the double-headed Cuba mass-meeting to select delegates, I wore an alpaca suit, and came near melting with fervent heat. The county was in turmoil and uproar in every nook and

1 corner. I ! very voter was electioneering with .some other voter. I have already stated that the count)' abounded in mountain streams which rose to great heights suddenly and unexpectedly. One of these .surprising rises came, near being the death of me. One evening, ihioiigh a mis nine witn night in a blacksmitn snop. corner, only about a dozen Crawford people living in it, was separated from the rest of the county by the Hussah River. Next order to reach morning it was booming. In my next appointment I had to cross that angry and swollen stream. was the One of my friends, Frank Wagner, driving buggy, pulled by two wiry little Mexican mustang ponies. Wag- ner, an East-Tennesseean, who had served four years in the Confederate Army, had more nerve than discretion and was thoroughly devoted to me. He weighed little above one hundred pounds and was true as steel, but he came near losing his candidate for Congress by drown- river I ing. When we reached the bank of the told Wagner that it was dangerous and that we had best not try to cross it. He made fun of my suggestion, but inquired of a man close at hand, building a fence, if the river was ford- able. He said he thought it was, but that nobody had forded it that morning. So over my protest Wagner plunged in. As soon as the horses struck the water they began to swim and the buggy to float. Being nearly twice as heavy as Wagner, the buggy began to careen on my side. I told Wagner that if I stayed in the buggy it would turn over and we would both go to Davy Jones's locker together. So I jumped out into the icy water, which came up to my armpits, straightened the buggy up, and loosed the head of one of the ponies, whose bridle was entangled with the end of the buggy tongue. Wag- ner drove out and I waded out. As I had on a heavy chinchilla overcoat and arctic overshoes, I must have weighed several hundred pounds when 1 reached terra firma. Neither of us had on a stitch of dry raiment. On a near-by hillside lived a venerable man, "Old Uncle Neal Brickey." We stopped at his house, stripped ourselves naked as we were born, wruntr the water out of ioned fireplace about ten rect wide. 1 lie rest we hung on the fence in the bright sunshine. Wagner came in, winking in a mysterious manner, and asked me if 1 ever took a drink. I answered, "Yes, at rare intervals, and one it is jf ever a man needed now." So he escorted me out to the kitchen, where Uncle Ncal produced a half- bottle of "white colorless as water. gallon whisky," We sampled it liberally, and it proved to be an exhilarating to the tipple and grateful palate. After drying our clothes somewhat, Wagner and I re- sumed our journey. When we were out of car-shot I said: "Frank, where did Uncle Ncal get that 'white whisky'?" With an illuminating smile, he replied, "Saint Louis I" "Ohl" I said, "tell that to the marines. That's moonshinethe first I over tasted." There the conver- sation dropped. That was in April. Now for the sequel. A few days after the November election I saw, to my regret, in the St. Louis papers an article with flaring head-lines, giving a long and racy account of the arrest and conviction in the Federal court of my venerable host, Uncle Neal, for moonshining. The fun his reporters had great at expense, stating among other things that he was the most incorrigible moonshiner in the 0/arks. (Kxit Uncle Neal.) I had another unusual experience in the Crawford cam- paign with watercourses, aggravating (hen, amusing now, dangerous never. I was to wind up my stumping tour in the county with a daytime .speech at Cuba, at which a large audience was expected. The night before I spoke at the Iron School-house, some eight or nine miles west of that city. It was a very dark night, hut I was anxious to reach Cuba to get my mail, hear the news, consult my friends, and see my wile and baby. ] did not know the one up for the Cuba rally next day, rmauy suggested that he would put me in "the Iron Road" which ran Mexican I through Cuba, and as the mustang ponies was all I had to do was to driving belonged in Cuba, give them home. their heads and they would go straight ^Knowing and a good deal about horses in general, precious little of about the vagaries and perversity Mexican mustang a reasonable The man ponies, I thought that program. so called because over put me in "the Iron Road/' it, before the railroad penetrated the Ozarks, vast quanti- ties of iron and iron ore were hauled to boat landings on the Missouri River. I gave the ponies free rein and they went up hill and down dale as fast as they could clatter. At last I could tell that we were approaching a stream. When they got into the water I knew that they were acquainted with the ford, and let them go as they pleased. They splashed along till the limbs of a tree raked my hat. Then 1 realized that instead of crossing they had turned up the stream. It was black as pitch. I stopped them and looked as best 1 could to learn the situation. I dis- covered that I was in a narrow channel, with high, steep banks, with water up to the bed of the buggy. I tried to turn those hammer-headed ponies around, but there was not room enough. Then 1 endeavored to back them out, when one of the ponies deliberately lay down in the water. 1 got on the buggy-tongue and lashed him with the whip, and bellowed at him, but without avail. I yelled at the top of my voice for help, but not a human being responded. I got out in the water up to my waist and carefully felt around to see if his feet were caught in the tree-roots, and found they were not. I tried to lift him up, but could not. I kicked him in the ribs, but that had no effect on him. He was enjoying his cool bath, while I was sweating at every nore. T nulled mv knife wet ciotnes ana stripped my on, gave Oeorge, the sole man of color in the county, a dollar to sit up all night and dry them out by the kitchen stove. All the Norton swore I got in to that hole of water because 1 was men ^ drunk a wicked fabrication which I did not hear the

last of for many a day. Crawford was detached from and into a new my district put district ten years later, but that fable may be floating around in the Ozarks yet, for all that I know, but I do know that for me it was a most unpleasant night. All the hairbreadth escapes were not for me, Of course I am not so fully informed as to what happened to Colonel Norton as I am as to what happened to me. However, I heard of one ride that he made, which neither he nor I would have made by night t any time since for a thou- sand dollars. One Saturday night he was making a speech, about fifteen miles from the nearest depot, Kcys- villc, on the Salem branch of the Frisco Railroad. About ten o'clock a messenger galloped up and handed him a telegram, calling him to meet in St. Louis on Sunday morning a very prominent man of our district on most: pressing business touching our campaign. The night was of darkness. Colonel Norton and inky \\lsfnlns dchaU's 9 Hon. Frank 11. Fan-is, since stale, senator, now and for several years a prominent- member of the Legislature, set out for Keysville in a buggy drawn by a pair of Mexican mustang ponies the. meanest of the equine, species over one of the worst and mosi dangerous roads in Amer- ica, at a breakneck speed. They reached Keysville a few minutes- after the last (rain on the bianeli lint- had left: for the junction sviih (he main line ai Cuba, and there was no Siimlaj' train on th<- branch! Uu( Colonels Nor- ton and Karris wen- too n-MiIinc to balk .-it a little 1 1:1. _ . i . i' / \ ixi . in time to see the alas! they reached Cuba just tail-lights of the St. Louis passenger-train disappearing in the dis- of Lord on an tance I After the fashion Ullin, occasion made famous by the poet Campbell, Colonel Norton was "left lamenting." The tradition in the neighborhood is that for some minutes the atmosphere about the Cuba depot was of a decidedly cerulean hue; but he was not to be balked of meeting the prominent citizen aforesaid in St. Louis, so in four or five hours he boarded a freight- train, and in much discomfort rode ninety-odd miles to the great "City of the Iron Crown." To everything an end must come, and finally the cam- paign in Crawford was closed in dramatic fashion, Colonel Norton controlled the County Committee which selected Cuba, almost on the edge of the big county at the junction of two branches of the Frisco, as the place for the mass-meeting. I wanted it at Steeleville, the county-seat, almost in the center of the county. Norton and I each ran two special trains into Cuba for the use of our supporters, one each from the southern line of the county and one each from the northern line thereof. No matter which of us won, the Frisco Railroad Company was ahead. Hundreds of men rode thirty miles in buggies or farm-wagons and horseback, to participate in that famous mass-meeting, an event from which other events in that vicinage have been dated ever since. Many trudged the weary distance on foot, starting the day before. Scores of women graced the spectacle with their presence. It was a great day for Cuba. While there were only twelve hundred and fifty Demo- crats in the county, at least two thousand marched in our processions, with banners waving, fifes shrilling, drums beating, and brass bands braying. Where the extra eight hundred men came from I do not know. Thr>v tnav have to I would that it was were going guess say about an even break in that regard. Under a wide-spreading umbrageous oak on the college the chairman of the Democratic Commit- green, County in a tee, Captain Ferguson, standing wagon-bed, called to order the mass-meeting promptly at one o'clock, the the hour agreed on, whereupon county attorney, Hon.

John T. Woodruff, only twenty-four years old, now one in of the most prominent lawyers southwest Missouri, nominated five delegates and moved that they be in- structed for me, which was done instantcr and with a whoop, and the mass-meeting adjourned sine die. For some reason not many of Colonel Norton's supporters attended that mass-meeting. In a few moments his followers arrived, organized another mass-meeting, elected live delegates, and in- structed them for him; but as the credentials of my ielegatcs were signed by the venerable chairman of the Bounty Committee, who was also chairman of the mass- which selected and neeting them, were signed also by he county attorney, who was also secretary of both the Bounty Committee and of the mass-meeting, they were onsiclered regular. Much acrimonious newspaper controversy ensued, grow- ng out of the double-headed Cuba mnss-nuning. This testimony should be borne to tin.' good people of jawford Count}'. With the. town overrun by a crowd oo to be big comfortably emrnaiiu-d on ;i Mistering hoc in the of ay, midst a personal and political contest waged 'ith exceeding fur}', not a light occurred, not even a :mp of fisticuffs. Some angry conversation was had, )mc loud, tumultuous, offensive, and profane language; 'as hurled throutrh the air; hut (.here were, no Mnndv the centuries since that spectacular performance, many of the men who most earnestly and most stoutly opposed me that sweltering day at Cuba have been among my stanchest friends and supporters. At last came the district convention. The Montgomery court-house was crowded. So were the lobbies, the corri- of excited dors, and other rooms. A multitude people filled the court-house yard and the near-by streets. Men were there from every nook and corner of the district. and at Many hot, verbal encounters were had, least one bloodless fist fight. Reverend Doctor Hardesty, a Nor- ton enthusiast, now one of my best friends, prayed for have peace in tones which Stentor might envied. He has since been chaplain of the Missouri Senate. Each, as before stated, had a delegation from Crawford County, of five delegates. The Norton delegation was the con- testing delegation. I had thirty-six regular delegates. He had thirty-one regulars besides his five Crawford County delegates. The Congressional Committee was for him. They brought in a rule that his five Crawford County men should sit in the convention and vote the same as the other delegates did even vote on the ques- tion of their own seats. Of course this made an absolute deadlock. The Congressional Committee named Henry Clark for chairman. My friends on the committee brought in a minority report, nominating George W. Whitecotton for chairman. They voted on Whitecotton and it was a tie. They voted on Clark and it was a tie. Then a distinguished statesman argued that because Whitecotton failed to get a majority Clark became chair- man ipso facto. The temporary chairman of the con- vention did not exactly decide that way, but he did what was equivalent to it he appointed a committee to escort fn tnf nl^it-fnrm f-n nrfr 10 rlriirtv-i Tuct- 10 ("""lorl- and said; When him on the arm you preside here, I Clark wanted to know what he meant. preside." that he Whitecotton said was elected chairman of the the convention by precisely same vote that Clark was he and that if Clark presided would preside, and if Clark wanted to get along peaceably all well and good, and if he did not, all well and good. Of course pandemonium ensued, and at least thirty pistols clicked in a half min- ute. Finally somebody suggested that they adjourn which until after supper, they did, and no doubt thereby a fusillade. prevented general During the recess Chirk sent for me and I went to see him, accompanied by two reliable witnesses. He said that he did not want to preside, but that his friends wanted him to preside, and that if I would agree to his he not cast his as presiding would vote chairman even on the question to adjourn, but would vote in his own delegation, where he had a right to voce. 1 said, "Mr. Clark, some years ago when you were chairman of the Montgomery County Committee you insisted that you had aright to cast your vote as a member of the committee to make a tie and then cast your vote as chairman to and I untie the tic, will have none of that," lie replied that that was the one political act of his life that he re- gretted and that he would kei-p ihe faiih in ibis Congres- sional Convention. I consented, ami so did Whiiecotton, :hat when the convention reassembled after supper Whitecotton would withdraw his name and move iliac

-lark be elected it 1 by acclamation, ami was so doiu ; >ut the time was so short thai srvi.-ral of Colonel Norton's Iclegatt's had not heard of this airangi-nu-nt. and, not mowing what was up, voted against their own chairman vhcn the vote was taken, li should be .slam! here, and there six days in convention assembled. We could not even adjourn for our meals, or overnight, unless Norton and I both consented to it. Finally we signed an agree- ment to adjourn for ten days so that we could attend the state convention and log-roll for a State Committeeman, as we both knew that we would finally land in the hands of the State Committee. At the state convention Nor- ton got the State Committeeman by one vote. After this recess agreed upon the convention met again and stayed in session three days. Finally I told my men that I had a majority in the convention and wanted the nomination wanted it in time to go to St. Louis. So they organized a convention in the convention and nom- inated me. Three hours later Colonel Norton's dele- gates nominated him. Finally the State Committee notified us both to appear before them to see if anything could be done to iron out the ugly situation. The State Committee ordered a primary, not a blanket primary, but they rigged up a scheme whereby they hoped to beat me out of the nomination and at the same time satisfy my friends. They ordered that on the same day each county should hold a primary not to vote for Colonel Norton and me, but to vote for Clark delegates and Norton delegates to a new convention to be held at St. Charles on August 3ist, which was done. I carried the district, if they had counted the votes under the blanket primary plan, by over three thousand, but they voted by counties, and I carried Montgomery County, which in the new district was the pivotal county, by only eleven votes out of a poll of two thousand. On a recount demanded by Colonel Norton it turned out. that I carried it by twelve. I was duly nominated at St. Charles, August 3 1 st. There never would have been any trouble about it if

lnnmani- ho ,4 nn+ l\nnn -,-,, >,1 rt K ,-,*-,..,-,,, T Qnf\ .-, A brand-new counties clown in the foot-hills and two of in. I carried Auclrain in the Ozarks put County 1892 hundred and sixty-eight, which was the pivotal by eight when Colonel Norton beat me county in 1890, eighty-seven The of the two votes in that county. placing new coun- district and out the old one ties in the new taking was what made such a long-drawn-out and ugly contest. The bitterness of these various campaigns, beginning to and was with '84 up including '92, indescribable. So to do while I had nothing particularly with the campaigns and I inherited the bitterness. of '84, '86, '88, Men who had been friends for a lifetime got so angry at each jther that they would not speak as they passed by. Two men who had lived side by side ever since they vere boys on adjoining farms, and who had never seen ither Colonel Norton or myself, met in the big road, fell o arguing about us, then to quarreling about us, then pt down off of their horses and, grabbing fence stakes, early killed each other. The upshot of all of this bitter- ess was that I ran five hundred votes behind the ticket, f Colonel Norton had been the nominee he would have m behind the ticket. As a matter of fact, no Demo- ratic candidate for Congress in (he district ever ran up ith the ticket from 1882 to iHyH. That yeiir I ran up ith the ticket and have been running more and more lead of it ever since. Colonel Norton went back to his w practice and amassed ;i new fortune. Judge Rolnn- nwent to Kansas City and is making fifu-en or twenty ousand dollars a year practising law, perhaps more. Thus in brief is stared an eight-year warfare in the dis- ict which perhaps has no parallel in any rural district America. The day of the double-beaded convention at Mont- I where Col, Charles H. presiding genius. inquired Jones, editor-in-chief, one of my warm friends, was. "He's in one. I asked him Europe," quoth the obese where Col. Bob Yost, second in command, another of my steadfast was. "At Hot Springs, Arkansas," replied the friends, " editorial Falstaff. Who's running this paper ?" I queried. "I ami" he answered, firmly. "Who are you?'* I mur- his mured. "I'm the city editor," was answer. I said, "I am Champ Clark; Col. Dick Norton and 1 were both nominated for Congress to-day at Montgomery City and I want The Republic to give me a square deal to-morrow." He rose from his chair and, while a broad grin spread over his expansive countenance, he replied: "Never fear. I will give you both a square deal. I want to see you both defeated I'm a Republican!" If the stars had fallen I would not have been more surprised, for in my innocence and ignorance I had always supposed that all the editors and reporters of a Democratic paper were Democrats, and vice versa, I was utterly dumfounded. After I recovered my equilibrium somewhat I said: "What! a Republican running a great Democratic organ in the midst of a hot presidential campaign?" He said, "Yes precisely; and if you will inquire you will find that half the reporters on this paper are Republicans. Then, after you have absorbed that information, go over to The Globe-Democrat office, the Republican organ, and you will discover that half of the writing force on that sheet are Democrats. It may add to your amazement that Joe McCullough, the brilliant editor-in-chief of The Globe-Democrat, is a mossbacked Democrat and votes the Democratic ticket straight!" By that time I was limp as a dish-rag. I felt very humble, but 1 collected my wits sufficiently to invite him down-stairs for refreshments, Over the coffee and cigars I said: "The Republic cor- at Col. W. and I respondent Montgomery City, John Jacks, lie skins his are not on speaking terms. me in paper and I will in skin him in my speeches. He put me bad in his ac- count of that double-headed convention and I want you to I see that I get a chance for my white alley." then gave him my version of the campaign and the convention as best time he had become I could. By that very friendly and When I had finished he sympathetic. my story inquired: "What can I do to help you?" I replied, "I want you to sit up till Jacks's letter arrives and see to it that I get I fair treatment," which he did. have never seen my friend since. I have no doubt that Colonel Norton and Colonel Jacks were somewhat astonished next morning when they saw The Repnbiicj whose big black head-lines ran in this wise: "Champ Clark nominated for Congress Dick Norton bolts!" I do not mean by the foregoing to convey the idea that Colonel Jacks would have misstated the facts intention- so enthusiastic for Norton and so hostile ally, but he was to me that it was inevitable his feelings and point of view might color his description of things. That was what I was afraid of. Colonel Jacks and I were long since reconciled. For years he has been one of my most loyal and most: sensible friends. Our reconciliation came about in an interesting way. During the month which intervened between the extraordinary and regular long session of the Kifiy-lhird Congress, in the autumn of 1^93, I i raveled over iny district, looking into post-ofliee squabbles. One Sunday afternoon I reached Montgomery City and was told that Rev. Noah Dale would preach that night in the Christian Church. I had known him in Kentucky when I was ;i LU nib m- the better of he declared faculty getting him, arose, he elected did not desire to be without opposition, and nominated an opponent to himself, and, unfortunately turned out a for me, his opponent, who to be strong Norton man, received a majority of one votel rated as will endure all Just why men, usually sensible, sorts of labors, hardships, and hazards, even to jeopard- for an the for izing their lives, office, reputation holding which is as evanescent as "the rainbow's glory" or as or as "the snowflake in the is "poppies' spread," river," insoluble of human nature an unsolved and mystery j, but there is something inspiring, fascinating, and exhila- rating in a stump campaign for an elective office, par- the rivals arc like ,ticularly when anything equally matched. They are animated by

The stern joy which warriors feel In focincn worthy of their steel.

While Colonel Norton and I were as determined to go to Congress as any two men that ever lived, I doubt whether either one would have entered the contest if on the 2Oth of March we could have read the Book of Fate sufliciently to rcali/.e the labor, turmoil, and risks we were compelled to endure before August: 3ist. I am still in Congress and I am glad to inform the readers hereof that my antagonist and friend prospered greatly in business and die practice of the law. Since the foregoing was written he has died, leaving his family amply provided for. lie was one of the fort-most eiti/ens of Missouri and his death is a serious loss to the state,. CHAPTER VIII

The Congress.

T ORD BACON ranks the founders of states (conditores J-/ denominates as the itnperiontm t he them) among greatest of mankind. The Constitutional Convention was composed of the wisest men that ever met under one roof. The most sensible thing done by the Fathers of this Republic was the distribution of the powers of the Federal govern- ment into three departments; the legislative, the execu- tive, and the judicial. The fact that a bill must be passed by the House, and also by the Senate, before it is sent to the President for his signature gives time for reflection, discussion, and analysis, not only by Representatives and Senators, but by the public, for in this age of electricity nearly every- body betwixt the two seas knows of any event of con- siderable importance the same day, or not later than the morning after. The next wisest thing was to divide the Congress into two branches. Some lady asked George Washington at a great dinner what the Senate was created for and why there were two legislative branches instead of only one. He said that the Senate would perform the same function for legislation that a saucer did for tea; that they would pour the hot tea of the House into the saucer of the Senate to cool off. soldier and a great statesman, he was not up to date in or he would not have said pink-tea etiquette anything about pouring tea into a saucer. I have sometimes thought that, in these latter days, it is the hot Senate tea that needs cooling off quite as often as the House tea. In a few matters the legislative and executive powers overlap and coalesce. For instance, no bill becomes a law unless it is signed or unless it is by the President, passed over his veto by a majority of two-thirds of both the Senate and the House; or by the failure of the President to sign a bill within ten after the bill is days (Sundays barred) presented to him, while the Congress is in session, under which circumstances it becomes a law. No nomination for office sent by the President to the Senate becomes effective unless confirmed by it. The President negotiates treaties with foreign Powers, but they are of no avail unless ratified by the Senate. In one instance the legislative and judicial functions mingle. That is when the President is impeached by the House and is on trial in the Senate. The Chief

Justice of the Supreme Court presides, for the manifest and sufficient reason that the Vice-President, who would be the beneficiary of the conviction of the President, should not be permitted to preside. Of course in such case the Chief Justice cannot vote as to the guilt or innocence of the accused. He simply pre- sides, passing on the- admission of evidence, etc. As a matter of fact, the whole impeachment proceeding is quasi-judicial, the House sitting as a grand jury, and the Senate afterward sitting as a petit juiy, though it is called the High Court of Impeachment. One of the most unsx-emly eveiirs in our history was rresiaent in happily, did not occur. Most assuredly the reason which impelled the Fathers from in the to prohibit the Vice-President presiding im- was the fear peachment trial of a President that self- of interest might warp the decisions the Vice-President. That alone should also have excluded Senator Wade from voting. It will be understood that I speak of the Senate and of the House not as two legislative bodies, but as two branches of the Congresswhich is correct, notwithstand- ing popular usage to the contrary. A few years ago Gen. Francis Marion Cockrell, for thirty consecutive years a prominent Senator from Mis- souri, denominated the United States Senate as "the greatest legislative body in the world,'* whereupon Sena- tor John C. Spooner> of Wisconsin, an eminent constitu- tional lawyer and considerable of a wit, said: "The Senate is not the greatest legislative body in the world. It is one of the branches of, I think, perhaps the greatest legislative body m the world, and the Senate may be the greatest part of the greatest legislative body in the world. I am not disposed to dispute that. We all admit that ourselves." The making of the Congress in its present shape was one of the many compromises of the Constitution, with- out which compromises there would have been no Con- stitution and no Union. The little states, fearful of being blotted out or absorbed, insisted on equal representation in both Houses, while the big states, reading their future greatness by the eye of faith, demanded that representa- tion in both Houses should be based on population. Con- sequence, a deadlock. Finally a philosophic patriot, believing that safety in Senate and representation based on population in the House. The little states, however, still afraid of being swal- lowed, insisted that these words be inserted in the Con- stitution: "No state, without its consent, shall be de- of its in the and it was so prived equal suffrage Senate," done, which was a notable victory for the smaller states. As it is a thing incredible that any state will ever con- sent to being deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate, those folks who, impatient of the influence of the smaller states in the Senate and ignorant of that peculiar pro- vision in the Constitution, propose to deprive them of their equal representation in the Senate or to abolish them entirely run up against an insurmountable obstacle. That is the only part of the Constitution which cannot be amended by a two-thirds vote of both Houses of Con- the assistance of three-fourths of gress with the states. Most assuredly the delegates to the Constitutional Convention from the little states were wise in their day and generation. The result is that so long as grass grows and water runs, if the Republic endures, Nevada, though her population never reaches the hundred thousand mark, will continue to have equal voice in the Senate with New York, though her millions of people should go on multiplying ad in/iniimn. New York and other big and populous states chafe at this arrangement, but: they cannot escape it, for it is so nominated in the bond. In the First Congress under the Constitution!: here were fifty-nine Repri'senintivc.s and twenty-two Senators. Until Rhode Island ami North Carolina came into the Union, when there weiv sixty-live Representatives and twenty- six Senators. To-day the Congress has four hundred and thirty-five Representatives and ninety-six Senators. mac ui ana by the Representatives except yuuug making a motion to reconsider. The commissioners are still further limited in their privileges. our vast The only portions of possessions, continental citizen of their or insular, which have no own to speak a word for them in the House are the District of Columbia, Guam, the Canal Zone, and the Virgin Islands. the sits Two days out of every month House as a com- mon council for the half-million citizens of the District of Columbia, who, living under the shadow of the Capitol, have no more voice in their governmental affairs than if they were denizens of the Cannibal Islands. A man who can think of a sadder commentary on our boasted theory of representative government is possessed of an imagination gorgeous beyond sanity! And yet our fathers precipitated the Revolutionary War for the prin- ciple, "No taxation without representation." Daniel Webster grandiloquently declared that we "went to war on a preamble," but the kernel thereof was, "No taxation without representation." It will be noted from the foregoing figures that at the opening of the First Congress the voting strength of one Senator equaled that of 2^3 Representatives, whereas now it equals the voting strength of 4-5} Representa- tives. If the membership of the House continues to increase at each decennial period which is certain to happen so long as the population continues to increase the voting strength of a Senator as compared with that of a Repre- sentative will continue to increase until more new states are admitted, which in all human probability will not occur soon. The only chance for new states within a generation is that Texas mieht COnrllirlp to divide hcr^lf !nrn :ibonds far and the billion dollars away biggest money to that time. Think of bill ever authorized up that in two days! And then remember that all the property

in America real, personal, and mixed was estimated billion dollars in when at only sixteen 1861, Sumtcr was that these fired on. I hope and pray impatient and pal- who belabored us so for pitating stiperpatriots savagely consuming two whole clays in providing for seven billions of bonds will be equally impatient and anxious to get an to them due. opportunity help pay when No right-thinking man objects to fair, honest, intelli- That is wholesome and gent criticism. altogether proper, but abuse, ridicule, and slander avc very different things from criticism and do immense damage, because they have a tendency to bring our whole system of represent- ative government into disrepute, thereby sapping its very foundation. At the very moment when the country was engaged in the most stupendous war in all the bloody annals of man- kind, and the Congress was doing its duty its whole duty manfully, industriously, and patriotically, to bring the war to a spuudy anil triumphant conclusion as all good citizens hoped most fervonily that it might be brought Representatives and Senators wore abused like a lot of pickpockets. Representatives and Senators not only voted unheard-of sums of money for the prosecution of the war, hut to the limit of their financial ability they contributed to the cause by purchasing bonds to foot the bills, and gave- to the Red Cross and similar organizations. Representatives and Senators not only voted oilier men's sons into the army, but they sent their own sons to fight perchance to die -for the starry banner of the Republic. we solemnly pieugeu rt*A tit A tinnm* and the seal of the House the sergcant-at-arms the House arrest all absentees can find and and his deputies they into the House until a is secured. bring them quorum no is raised for various reasons: The point of quorum defeat a bill which some member deems obnox- First, to iousand it is a perfectly legitimate way to defeat a bill; some one is the second, because angered by proponents because some member believes that of a bill; third, no transacted without the business should be presence of a because some member who is not quorum; fourth, op- to the bill wants to kill time so that some posed pending other bill to which he is opposed cannot be considered; of a desire for for the recent fifth, because revenge defeat of his own pet measure; sixth, because he desires* to annoy somebody else or to show his power; seventh, because he is weary or hungry or has an engagement or thinks the House has sat long enough, and hopes by raising the of no to force an point quorum adjournment. From the foregoing definition of a quorum it Is apparent that the number constituting a quorum varies from time to time. Under the present apportionment then: are four hundred and thirty-live Congressional districts, and a full membership consists of four hundred and thirty- five members, of which two hundred and eighteen make: a quorum, but no member-fleet can participate in the proceedings after the IIou.se is organi/ed unless IK- has been sworn or has rtlhrnu'd, as the case may he. Only those members who belong to the Society of 1'Yiends affirm. ]f there are ten vacancies a quorum consists of two hundred and thirteen members, and so on, and so on. There was a continuous dispute as lo what members- elect should be counted on the quorum question until Mr. Speaker Henderson rendered an elaborate and well- both followed Mr. Speaker Henderson's ruling, I take it on that that his ruling is a finality subject because the House sets as much store by precedents as do the courts. that while it has In passing it may be stated always been it has been difficult to keep a quorum present, almost the House was impossible since office-building erected, in which each member has a large work-room of his own and in which he spends much time in the transaction of business pertaining to his official duties. The Constitution of Missouri contains the wholesome to become a must provision that any bill, law, receive the affirmative vote on roll-call of a majority of the members of each House, and be signed by the Governor. The same rule prevails in some other states. When it is shown that no quorum is present, no motions are in order except to adjourn or to order a call of the House together with such subsidiary motions as go with or grow out of the motion for a call of the House. Until Thomas Brackett Reed, of Maine, became Speaker, when the roll was called no member was counted as being present unless he responded to his name when it was called. The Republicans at the beginning of the first Reed Congress had the very small majority of eight not a working majority. So the Democrats concluded to prevent Republican political legislation by remaining mute when their names were called. This went on for some time, till one fine morning when Reed astounded them by counting enough Democrats who were present, but not answering, to constitute a quorum when added to the Republicans who had answered.

At once there rose so wild a yell As all the fiends from Heaven that fell Had pealed the banner cry of Hell. for and weeks, but in the end bitter warfare raged days as Senator "The White Czar," John T. Morgan, of Ala- and u bama, dubbed him, prevailed, quorum-counting rule has been adopted by every Congress since, except the which had such a Democratic Fifty-second, great majority and the bitterness that it did not need it, growing out of which his fame rest Reed's performance, on must in the still too intense to coming time, was permit a Democratic House to adopt it. The story briefly told is this: Quorum-counting, ns a cure for the then great and growing evil of filibustering, had been suggested to Mr. Speaker Colfax in the Thirty- but he would have none of it. It eighth Congress, was also suggested to Mr. Speaker ISlaine. He turned it down in these words: "It would be an absurdity for the Chair to oppose his opinion to the actual record of the roll-call. The Chair cannot declare a quorum except on a yea and nay vote. The moment you clothe your Speaker with power to go behind your roll-call and assume that there is a quorum in the hall, why, geiulenicn, you stand on the very brink of a volcano." Thus two .Re- publican speakers contra. Hut: still worse for the Reed contention, he had himself opposed quoin in-counting, once in 1879, when it was proposed by John Randolph Tucker, of Virginia, an eminent constitutional lawyer as- well as a distinguished Democrat, and again when Mr. Speaker Keifer suggested it in the Forty-seventh Congress. It is said that necessity is the mother of invention, and Mr. Speaker Reed rrali/.ed (hat he could not do business with so small a majority as eight which, however, was soon increased to a working majority by the simple, process of throwing out enough Democrats- and rcali/ed further that with only citfht majority he could not, on enougn there was no he proceeded to do, although rule authoriz- no rules were ing him so to do. In fact, adopted by that Congress until he secured his working Republican major- two months when the House had ity. During the no rules he claimed to be acting under very elastic "general parliamentary law." Thus Mr. Speaker Reed achieved his niche in the temple of fame. It is said that many Republican members threatened to vote against the code of rules containing the quorum-counting provision. Sub- sequently asked what he would have done had his quorum- counting rule been defeated, he replied: "I should have simply left the Chair, resigned the Speakership, left the House, and resigned my seat in Congress. If political life consisted in sitting helplessly in the Speaker's chair and seeing the majority powerless to pass legislation, then I had had enough of it, and was ready to step down and out.'* In fighting against the throwing out of Democrats in that Congress, Charles Frederick Crisp, of Georgia, made enough reputation to land himself in the Speaker's chair in tiie Fifty-second Congress. Mr. Speaker Reed claimed complete vindication when the Democratic House of the Fifty-third Congress adopted a quorum-counting rule, and he was thoroughly justified by the facts. Everybody has heard the expression "a wheel within a wheel/' and understands the meaning thereof. The House of Representatives is composed of fifty-eight wheels within a wheel. The fifty-eight committees arc the smaller wheels within the big wheel, which is the House itself. Most of the really hard and important work is done by the committees, of which the value is fully realized only by the members of the House, by Senators, Committee work gives little reputation to the members their because of the committee except among fellows, at their committee labors, arc not in the lime- they, while do not the center of the light and occupy stage, except committee leads to in rare instances. But good work promotion. A committee, having considered a bill or resolution, conclusion to the which re- presents its House, accepts, or as it sees fit, with or without debate. jects, amends, is or No bill or joint resolution considered passed by the House without a report, except in cases of extreme emergency. Committee work is hard work, but pleasant where a member secures assignment to a committee which he

likes. When it is remembered that there arc some thirty thousand bills and resolutions introduced into each Con- distributed the it is gress, and among committees, easy to understand that the committees never run out of grist. Many of the bills are duplicates, triplicates, etc., of each other; some are of no importances a few are ridiculous, and some arc mere replicas of existing statutes introduced by mistake or through ignorance; but after these are counted out "the irreducible minimum," to use the favorite phrase of Capt. Richmond Pearson liobson, who sank the Merritnac is and In-, considered t very largo, must if time permits. At the time the Titanic sank there were scores and scores of bills and resolutions introduced for the purpose of regulating ships, routes, appliances, etc. On divers bills there is no necessity for hearings, because they are so plain and simple that: any one can compre- hend their full import at one reading, and the advisability of passing or not passing them is so clear that there is no necessity for argument or evidence; but on many others intricate and sundry other bills of an important nature or on subjects entirely new. Evil-minded persons try to make it appear that these elaborate hearings are a mere waste of time intended to delay or thwart legislation. No doubt there have been cases of thac kind, but they were exceptions and not the rule. When a committee has heard as much of evidence and argument as it is willing to listen to, it takes up the bill for amendment. As there are twenty-one members on each of the larger committees, it takes considerable time for them to talk it out among themselves and come, if possible, to a unanimous conclusion, an exceedingly de- sirable consummation, for a unanimous report generally, but not always, means the passage of the bill through the House; whereas, if there is a minority report, its pas- sage is endangered, the danger increasing with the num- ber of members who sign the minority's report. Where a committee unanimously reports a bill it is very hard indeed to defeat it on the floor of the House, because in the very nature of things it is impossible for every member to investigate every bill, and, having faith in the intelligence, capacity, and integrity of the members of the committee, they are much inclined to accept its conclusions. This is particularly true where the bill is on a subject on which there has been much legislation, but when a bill proposes legislation on a new subject, especially where a new principle is involved, members are much slower about accepting the findings of a com- mittee. Again, the House may in a general way be in favor of legislation upon a given subject, but opposed in toto to the bill reported by the committee, or, what is more common, opposed to certain of its provisions. In such cases the members of the committee advocating the 1-11 i iii . ... without instructions ment, is recommitted which kills it is recommitted to the It. More frequently committee to which reported it, with instructions incorporate into and to it hack at some fixed it certain propositions report time usually "forthwith." In order to preserve this the rules that one privilege inviolate, provide specifically motion to recommit with or without instructions is in order on every bill and that in recognition for that pur- shall to the pose the Speaker give preference opponents of the bill. The reason for that rule is that when there bill to he voted on is a is a great finally there much fuller attendance of members than during the period of debate and amendment. Consequently, a proposition which cannot be forced into a bill during the amendment stage in a thin House may he forced in by the fuller vote on the motion to recommit with instructions. Only one motion to recommit is in order, and it is made after the engross- ment and third reading. The motion to recommit with instructions is generally made for the purpose of putting members on record on roll-call. From the fort-going statement it is easily seen that in

reality the bulk of legislation is done in the committees. That is one reason why members light tooth and nail to secure membership on the more important: committees. Another reason is that being on an important committee gives them the right to manage important hills on the floor, where reputations are made. By reason of these struggles for the choicest committee assignments there is much jealousy, heartburning even bitter hatred and a consuming desire for revenge. It has been repeatedly staled that one reason why James Gillcspie Blame was defeated for the presidential nomination at Cincinnati, in iHyfi, was that Represent a- for him for change for Tyner's support Speaker, and failed to keep his word. Consequently he knifed "The Plumed Knight/' foundation In popular estimation, since the of the gov- ernment, the four great committees are and have been, Ways and Means, Appropriations, Judiciary, and Foreign Affairs. At first the Committee on Ways and Means also dis- charged the duties and functions of the Committee on Appropriations. Finally the work became too heavy and the Committee on Appropriations was created. For many years that committee had charge of all appro- priations. Another reason for creating the Committee on Appro- priations was that the health of Thaddeus Stevens, of Pennsylvania, who was boss of the House at that time as well as chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, was rapidly failing, and he desired to be relieved of part of his labor. Of his own choice he became chair- man of the new Committee on Appropriations, and he held that position as long as he lived. When Samuel J. Randall, chairman of the Appropria- tions Committee, broke away from the main body of Democrats on the tariff, they, not desiring to demote him, determined to shear him of a large part of his power by giving authority to half a dozen other committees to report appropriation bills. An effort is now being made to create a Budget Committee, after the British fashion, which it is purposed shall first determine the total of appropria- tions for the fiscal year and then decide how much shall be appropriated by the various committees authorized to report appropriation bills. The proposition was de- feated in the one caucus to which it has been presented, not because members wprp nnnrmp^ tn tVi PC in revised torm J t will pronamy presented again and in some may be adopted shape. The argument in its favor is economy. Notwithstanding the fact that the Committee on Ways and Means has little work to do except when questions touching revenue arc to the fore, the probabilities are that it will always be rated as the premier committee of the House certainly so if it continues to be a committee on committees. Of almost equal rank, dignity, and power with the aforementioned committees are the committees on Inter- state and Foreign Commerce, Post-ofRces and Post- roads, Military Affairs, Naval Affairs, Public Buildings and Grounds, and Rivers and Harbors. While I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, I make bold to predict that, at their present rate of growth, in ten or fifteen years the committees on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, and Post-oilices and Post-roads will be the most powerful and most sought-after committees in the House. The physical inventions of our times, us well as our increasing population and wealth, are constantly augmenting the business of those two committees. Occasionally service on one of the minor committees gives a man of parts opportunity to make a great reputa- tion. When Joseph C. S. Blackburn, of Kentucky, first entered the House he was assigned to the Committee on Expenditures in the War Department. His golden op- he portunity came when discovered and dragged to light: of day the peculations of (Jen. W. W. Helknap, Secretary of War. In the twinkling of an eye lie made reputation enough to enable him to come within two votes of defeat- ing Speaker Randall for lenomination u> the Spcaker- ship to elect him to the Senate for eighteen years, and desirable or chief function is to expedite necessary legis- lation, by bringing in special rules providing for the con- sideration out of order of bills esteemed important. On account of taste or local environment some members prefer to be on committees of less general importance than those named above. Reputation, so far as the public is concerned, is made on the floor of the House. Some of the most frequent debaters are very remiss in committee work. The House Rules constitute an Intricate and elaborate machine, most delicately adjusted for results. Some members come to understand them speedily and others never learn them. As it stands to-day it is the outcome of centuries of experience in the British House of Commons and of one hundred and thirty years in our Congress. It is not perfect. Nothing created by man is perfect, but it is gradually, if slowly, approximating perfection. Some very good people think committees should be abolished utterly, which is absurd. Without them the House would get nowhere would accomplish nothing. The "town meeting'* plan of legislating was one potent cause of the downfall of Poland. If one member of the " Polish Diet shouted Nie potswallam" that was the end of the measure under consideration, and by that practice the Diet was paralyzed. Let us hope that in the resur- rected Poland the "Nie potswallam" theory will not be practised. It was called "Liber veto" free veto. There are periodic outbursts against making up the committees the by rule of seniority. The crusade against that practice was extremely vehement and virulent in the of campaign 1918 being nothing more than part of thc^Republican scheme to secure control of the House. There was absolutely no sincerity in the cry except 01 uiu wnoie The utter nypocnsy pcnonnance is demon- cavil the as soon as strated beyond by Republicans they making their committees largely the same got in, up by which so rule of seniority they savagely condemned in

1918. Of course no party will ever make committees solely of which would be by the rule seniority exceedingly unwise and would end in disaster but that seniority and will bo an always has been always important factor is in making committee assignments absolutely certain and no mortal man can give any philosophic or tenable reason why it should not be. Other things being equal, of service why should not length count in a member's favor? It is practised to some extent not only in the House, but in all the affairs of life. No sane man would for one moment think of nuking a new graduate from West Point a full general, or one from Annapolis an admiral, or one from any university or college chief of n or business great newspaper, maga/ine, house. A priest or preacher who has just taken orders is not immediately made a bishop, archbishop, or cardinal. In every walk of life men "must tarry at Jericho till their beards arc grown." Even the Fathers of the .Republic practised the rule of seniority when they wrote in the Constitution the pro- vision that no man is eligible 10 the Presidency unless he is at least thirty-live years old; or to the Senate before he is thirty; or to the House of Representatives before he is tweiuy-fwo. The rule of seniority cannot keep down a man of great parts in any department of human endeavor. Napoleon was commander of the army of Italy at iwcnry- seven. Gen. Leonard Wood and (.Jen. John J. .r .1. : : n i\ a bouncing mm over tne neaus ui a suuic ur major-generals whose commissions were senior to his. Indeed, the Con- of gress resurrected the rank lieutenant-general for the President Lincoln to sole purpose of enabling bestow it on Grant. When Stephen Arnold Douglas entered the Senate at the age of thirty-four he had already been circuit attor- ney, member of the Illinois Legislature, Registrar of the Land Office, Secretary of State, judge of the State Su- preme Court, and member of the Federal House of Representatives. In six years* service in the House John C. Rreckenridge made himself leader of the pro- slavery Democrats. Those who make up the committees find ways of pro- moting men of extraordinary merit over their seniors, and it will be so to the end of time. "Gallia est omnis dwisa in paries ires" are the opening words of Caesar's Commentaries, familiar to the eyes and ears of every boy and man and every girl and woman that has ever wrestled with Latin. In passing it may be truly stated that when Caesar took his stylus in hand to write an account of his battles and campaigns he did far more to achieve earthly immortality than by winning his victories. Even as the great Imperator divided Gaul into three parts, the duties of Senators and Representatives in Con- be gress may roughly divided into three parts: first, floor work; second, committee work; third, departmental work. So far as the general public is concerned, the floor work is the most important. It is the showiest, and from it and most by^it Representatives and Senators make their reputations both with the newspapers and the public. The average reader will be surprised to know that with many Senators and Representatives the floor work is the are ucstoweu me in and research upon spcecues nousc or which attract and influence the Senate attention^ ^really and course of legislation public opinion. But speech- a facile making is sucli performance with Americans that his feet and talk is for to stand on easy the average Sena-

tor or Representative, Committee work is hard, important, and pleasant, pro- vided the Senator or Representative is assigned to one of if the great committees particularly theworkis congenial. For instance, long service on the Committee on Ways and Means in the House or the Finance Committee in the Senate, which discharges among other things part of the functions of the House Ways and Means Committee, or later is a liberal education. Sooner every class of our citizens, except fools, is heard before those committees; men of fine ability and more or less thoroughly posted on the questions involved great lawyers, editors, manu- facturers, railroad men, merchants, artists, authors, farm- labor ers, leaders, importers, exporters, etc., etc. They come to enlighten the committees and some of them depart very much enlightened themselves. Buttles royal take place in those committees. Some- men appear there with carefully prepared statements or arguments, half of false, which smell the midnight lamp -and which they and their employers fondly hope would deceive the very elect. They enter the committee-room, intent upon and confident of pulling the wool over the i-yes of tlu- commii- teemen. Generally they come to grief, their falsehoods arc exposed, their carefully prepared stories ar<: chopped to pieces ruthlessly, and they go tlu-noe after the Cushion of little Bo-pccp's sheep, dragging their tails behind them. These smug knaves, however, are the exceptions to the rule, for most of the men appealing before the commit- tor example, the Committee on Ways and Means on which committee the on the I was the top Democrat during hearings Payne Tariff bill I cross-examined him for two hours, and when the committee adjourned he waited for me and said: "Mr. Clark, I want to thank you for the kindly way I had been in which you treated me, for told that you went after witnesses with a meat-ax and figuratively chopped them to pieces." be to tell I replied: "You seemed to trying the truth, answering fairly all questions propounded to you. My meat-ax is used only on liars and dodgers." work is All in all, the departmental hardest. Repre- sentatives, Senators, and newspaper men call it "doing 1 ' the chores. Much senseless humor is poked at it. It consists in looking after the business of one's constituents, of whom each Representative, on the average, has two hundred and twelve thousand five hundred, and each Senator half a state full. It is flat drudgery. Some Representatives and Senators do it cheerfully and suc- cessfully; others irritably and grudgingly; a few not at all. It seems to me that this work is a necessary portion of the duties of members of House and Senate. At any rate, I have always done it as best I could. It is utterly impossible to catalogue the things folks want looked after. They range all the way from the smallest and most trifling inquiries to inquiries touching fabulous, fanciful, and colossal fortunes in Europe. The business of hum- bugging the American people and swindling them out of their hard-earned dollars and dimes by means of bogus fortunes, in Europe, is systematically carried on by certain law firms in London and perhaps in other Euro- pean cities, co-operating with certain law firms in New York. This swindle was a great nuisance to Senators, an elaborate circular exposing the thievish published which it keeps in stock and furnishes to game, Represent- and on atives, Senators, others, request. This has done much to mitigate the evil and reduce the labor attached it has not it. thereto, but stopped Thomas Carlyle, in a which to have been his fit of anger appears normal con- said: arc dition, once "There thirty millions of people in Great Britain mostly fools I" While the percentage of is not so fools in this country large, there arc still enough to fatten the swindlers, who pretend to discover tremen- dous fortunes in Europe which belong to American suck-

ers of whom the late lamented Phincas T. Barnum de- clared "One is born eveiy minute." Phmcas T. places the birth-rate too low. One every second would have been nearer the mark, but even that would have been too low much too low. These swindlers always select a name widely disseminated, such as Smith, Jones, Brown, Williams, Fisher, Ball, Clark, etc., and reap a rich harvest. The percentage of fools in this country is not so great as Carlyle states it, but nevertheless it is quite large. Here arc samples of "Congressional chores." It so happens that for women to become members of "The Dames of '76" or "The Daughters (if the Revolution," they must prove up a Revolutionary pedigree straight as a string. So when (hose iwo great patriotic orgam'/ations spread over the Mississippi Valley, every woman, the traditions of whose family led her to believe that any of her ancestors fought in tin- Revolutionary War, inevitably and very properly desired to join, and just as inevitably and properly had to produce her pedigree papers in due form as a sine qua nan. Consequently some four or five hundred applied to me for ihe necessary documents, and through my very elhYient secretary, Wallace I). Ha.ssford, population ot Missouri oeing very tusmupuutan m cnar- acter. To me it was a labor of love. What it was to my did secretary, Doctor Bassford, who most of the work, this deponent sayeth not. Of course, looking after pension claims and private claims for property lost, injured, destroyed, or confiscated through government officers, agents, or laborers, soon becomes a confirmed habit with Representatives and Senators. Claims to the astounding amount of four billions of dollars are pending in Washington a majority of them, perhaps, more or less meritorious. There are thousands and thousands of honest claims for property taken or destroyed or injured which have never been made. Uncle Sam is such a slow paymaster and the process is so long and wearisome that many persons never present their claims at all, preferring the loss to the worry of collecting their just dues. A government claim once made is immortal. The only way to get rid of one is to pay it, and even that does noe always put an end to it. Age does not wither claims or diminish their infinite variety. They come down from pre-Revolutionary days. Like Tennyson's brook, they go on forever. During my first term in Congress some of Harman Blennerhasset's descendants who live in my district wrote me concerning a claim which they and others had against the government by reason of damage to their celebrated ancestor's property on Blennerhasset's Island during the days of the Aaron Burr hysteria particularly for the destruction of fruit-trees and shrubbery that shrubbery which, according to the perfervid eloquence of William Wirt, Shenstone would have envied. Being much interested in the Burr episode, having read every- thing ever printed about him, having declaimed, when a and ot course ure on him frequently, supposing, being hand at the bellows that the claim had never a green I went at the with been presented before, investigation and enthusiasm. I was anxious to win niuch energy my a and effective of spurs as vigilant representative my r or and I in constituents. l days, even weeks, put all from duties the time I could spare my larger delving into House and Senate. I discovered the journals of Finally introduced a bill that in 1812 some Senator bad providing of this same Blcnnerhasset that for the payment claim, to a committee was appointed investigate and report on the same. All of which was done. The report, a long, or fifteen of fine comprehensive one of twelve pages print, recited the damage, which was unquestionable and of considerable amount, but found further that the damage was wrought by the Virginia militia not acting under the authority or by order of the government of the United States, and therefore the state of Virginia, and not the Federal government, was responsible in damages to the heirs-at-Iaw of Harman Blunncrhassct. Some years ago a man in Wisconsin, of whom I had never heard, wrote me to send him at once, by return mail, a copy of all the Congressional Globes and Records from the foundation of the government to tin: day when he wrote me. I answered that I could not possibly do as I it, had been trying for years to save up the seven or eight hundred dollars which they would cost in order to buy a set for myself which w;is the literal I ruth. They do cost seven or eight hundred dollars and I was very anxious to own a complete set, as they are well-nigh in- valuable to a public man who is interested in the legisla- tive and political history of tiie country. I'ivo or six years ago a queer thing happened. An attache of the a cent; 1 found tnree sets in tne uaserncnr, xert tnere by some unknown Congressman ten years ago. You are ^ welcome to one set!" I offered to make him a nice not I present, but he would accept any. esteem the books very highly. When I was a boy back in the hill country of Kentucky, attending the old log-cabin school-house, with slabs for of us this seats, the teacher was fond setting copy: "Many men of many minds." To suit the exigencies of this case it might be changed to: "Many requests by many people.'* In 1894 one of my friends wrote me, while I was busy in Washington with my Congressional duties, that he wanted me to prepare him, at once, two humorous lectures, each one hour and a half long, which he proposed to deliver over the country for pay. I answered him that I was very much crowded for time, and, anyway, a. man could not write lectures by the yard at any time as he would sell calico or cotton cloth, but he had to wait for the spirit to move him. It is said that Dr. Samuel Johnson wrote Rasselas at one sitting in order to make money enough to pay his mother's funeral expenses but there are not many Doctor Johnsons, and few men can rival the literary feats of the Ursa Major. Not long since I received a long letter from a worthy woman in a small town in Pennsylvania a total stranger who wanted me to send her money enough to put up a fence of wire-netting around her premises to restrain her ducks, geese, and chickens from foraging on her neighbors. Clearly her heavt was in the right place and she aspired to be neighborly in the best sense, but as the balance was on the wrong side in my bank-account at that time, I failed to send her the desired remittance. Another Member of that Congress was Thomas Corwin, of Ohio, who had been United States Senator and Gov-

About that time a patriotic brother, with an eye to the a most affectionate laud- main chance, wrote me epistle, to the skies and winding up offering to sell me ing me by stick once carried a well-preserved hickory by Georgia's renowned statesman, Alexander Hamilton Stephens, for dollars -which oiler I the modest sum of fifty was com- to decline for the lack of funds. pelled for Another prolific source of "chores'* Representa- is tives and Senators helping boys into the army and out. to out navy or in helping them Applications get are much more numerous than applications to get in. During the Spanish-American War I put in a large por- tion of my time for three months getting them in and for six months getting them out. Of course applications of this sort piled up sky-high during and subsequent to the World War. Senators and Representatives do the best cases. possible in these Boys away from home "go broke," can find no employ- ment, and as a dernier ressort enlist in the army or nuvy. The flaming multicolored posters which everywhere meet the eye lure many a boy into enlisting. Many of them soon grow weary of the hard work, monotony, and strict discipline. 11 icy write home letters in the nature of jeremiads. Then the mother and father appeal to their Representative or Senator to help get him a release from the service because he was under age when he enlisted and that they did not give their consent, or that mother or father is sick and needs his labor, etc., etc. Frequently a youngster, homesick and heartsick, deserts, ami then the appeals to Representatives and Senators to save the delinquents from punishment and disgrace are heartrending. Saving them is difficult generally im- possible for desertions are so much the fashion that the service. In this connection it is apropos to state that while desertions are amazingly numerous, the number of in- stances where men re-enlist are still more numerous. The re-enlisted men get better pay, have a good chance to become non-commissioned officers and a very long chance to win commissions, but the chief reason why they re-enlist is that they have become habituated to the service and prefer it, with a certain living attached, to getting out and entering into what the late Mr. Man- talini would have denominated "the demnition, horrid grind" of competing with the vast jostling multitude for "a place in the sun," to borrow the Kaiser's famous phrase. A distinguished army officer told me not long since that should Congress increase the regular army to any considerable extent the trouble would be to secure the necessary enlistments in good times, but that it would not be so difficult to secure enough in hard times. At any rate, the double process of getting youngsters into the army and navy and of getting them out gives Representatives and Senators considerable extra work to do.

Hon. Amos J. Cummings, brilliant both as a Congress- man and journalist, filibusterer under Walker in Nica- ragua, soldier in the Army of the Potomac under McClel- lan, whom he idoli/ed, disciple of Horace Grecley, whose oiitr and bizarre utterances he was always quoting, figured it out that the average length of service of a Representative in Congress is only four years. One of two things is true: either Amos was wrong or the average length of service has been increased in recent years, for since I entered the House, March 4, 1893, tne average is somewhat over seven years. Undoubtedly the tendency During the twcnty-nvc years 1 nave been in Congress ex-United Stares Senators have been only three members VV. of of the HouseHenry Blair, New Hampshire, Charles A. Town, formerly of Minnesota, now of New E. of York, and William Mason, Illinois, now a Repre- sentative 'but there has been a constant procession of House members to the Senate. So it has been from the Out of at beginning. ninety-six- Senators the present arc time, thirty-four cx-Rcprcsentatives. It may be of interest to state that twenty-two Senators are ex-Govern- ten have ors, ancl that been both Representatives in Con- and Governors. More ex-Governors gress than ex-Sena- tors come into the House. I have served with three ex-Governors of Maine Dingley, Burleigh, and Powers; with one, McCrcary, from Kentucky. At the present time there arc two ex-Governors in the House Montague, of Virginia, and Sanders, of Louisiana. Once in a long while an ex-Cabinet Minister is elected a Representative. In his Twenty Years of Congress James G. Hlaino says that David Davis, of Illinois, was the only ex-Justice of the Federal Supreme Court to serve in the Senate, and John Rutlcdgc, of South Carolina, the only one to serve in the House. Rutlcdtft: bad also been Chief Justice. Kvery- botly knows that. John (Juincy Adams was the- only ex- President to serve in (he I louse, while Andrew Johnson was the only one to serve in (be Senate. In iKor Ken-

sent to tin- House i wo veteran tucky statesmen, John |. Crittciulen and Charles A. Wicklill'. The former lias been Governor, b'niied Siaies Senaior, and Cabinet member, while the latter has been Governor, Cabinet member, and in the diplomatic service. There are various reasons why Representatives desire, translation to die Senate: I'iiM, die longer term; second, her to retain his seat if he is at all worthy of it. "The favorite son" scheme cannot be so successfully worked as under the old convention system. The more "favorite sons" who shy their castors into the ring the better for the incumbent, unless a popular man from his own strong- hold competes. Independent of this, however, there is a growing dis- a position among the voters to give man, when once elected to the House, a longer lease. The truth is being more and more realized by the public that, other things being equal or anywhere near equal, the value of the Representative or Senator increases in proportion to his length of service. A man must learn to be a Represent- ative or Senator, just as he must learn to be a farmer, carpenter, blacksmith, merchant, engineer, lawyer, doc- tor, preacher, teacher, or anything else. Of course some men learn quicker than others -some of exceptional ability and powers of observation very speedily, and some not at all. The best plan for a constituency to pursue is to select a man of good sense, good habits, and perfect integrity, young enough to learn, and re-elect him so long as he retains his faculties and is faithful to his trust. Such a man grows into power and high position as surely as the sparks fly upward. As a rule, in both House and Senate, the best places go to men of long service, provided they are capable, sober, industrious, vigilant, and punct- ual in the discharge of their duties. No man should be sent to either House of Congress solely to gratify his own ambition, but because he has qualifications for the posi- tion which he seeks indeed, better qualifications than any of his opponents. New England, together with Pennsylvania, has under- stood all these things from the beginning, and has him harness as him to Congress and keep m long as he he retires or until he is lives, or until voluntarily promoted and a or until he is landed higli dry by political revolu- New and tion. Consequently England Pennsylvania have out of all an influence at Washington proportion to their or intelligence. For in the population, wealth, instance, and with Fifty-fourth Fifty-fifth Congresses, Maine, only in four Representatives, held the House the Spcakcrship, with the much-coveted of the together chairmanships committees on and Naval great Ways Means, Affairs, and Public Buildings and Grounds, while at the other end of the Capitol Senator Frye was President pro tempore of the Senate and chairman of the Committee on Finance, while Senator Hale was chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs and stood second on the Committee on held Appropriations. Most assuredly Maine the coign of vantage in those Congresses. To borrow one of "Uncle Joe's" favorite expressions, Maine was "the whole shooting-match." At that time Speaker Reed was one of the two most prominent Republicans in America, hut he could not have displaced either Frye or Hale in the Senate, because the Republicans of Maine reali'/cd that they had served them faithfully and well and would not turn them out. Con- sequently Senator Frye stayed in the Senate till he died, and Senator Hale, after thirty years' service, was retired only by a Democratic landslide. Otherwise he would have remained in the Senate all his life. In 1876 James Gillcspic Hlainc was the most popular man in America and had ten times more fame than both the Maine Senators combined, but: he had no chance to go to the Senate until Senator Morrill resigned from the Senate to serve as Collector of the Port of Portland, so as succeeueu to bingnam, also or rmiaaeipnia, uie title. In announcing his predecessor's death he said that, includ- ing himself, five Philadelphia^ Kelley, Randall, O'Neal, Harmer, and Bingham, had in immediate succession borne the title of "Father of the House," and that their to one hundred and joint services amounted forty-seven the General years! Happily for country, Bingham, gal- lant soldier, splendid gentleman, able statesman, served total ten years longer, running the service of these five men up to one hundred and fifty-seven years. When lie of died, mirabite dicta! Hon. John Dalzell, Pittsburg, became the "Father of the House," and would still be but for the political cataclysm of 1912. He is one of the ablest House Republicans in twenty years, to my certain knowledge. Certainly six Pennsylvania "Fathers of the House," in an unbroken line, should set the rest of the country to thinking. All of this illustrious sextet died in office, except Dalzell, and he was succeeded as "Father of the House" by Hon. William A. Jones, of Virginia, a lineal descendant of "Light Horse Harry" Lee. When "Father Jones" died he was succeeded in that honorable seniority by Frederick H. Gillett, of Massa- chusetts, and the man from Massachusetts is now also the Speaker as well as "Father of the House," and thac is indeed a very rare conjunction of honors. When I first cnme to Congress there was a superstition to the effect that no Representative would ever serve thirty years. A few had served over twenty-nine years, but all of them had died before they finished the thirtj'- year period. Judge William S. Holman, of Indiana, "The Great Objector," the watch-dog of the Treasury par excellence, broke the hoodoo March 4, i8cK, when he elected sixteen and de- nominated twenty times, being Since Holman's several members have feated four. day limit. lion. exceeded the thirty years' Joseph Gurney Cannon, of Illinois, my immediate predecessor in the holds the record for House Speakerskip, longest service, with forty-five years. He was nominated twenty-five times and lost in times. He won twenty-three two Democratic landslides. If he lives out his present term he will have been in the Mouse forty-six years. In 1890 and the he, William McKinley, Benjamin Buttcrworth, brilliant orator and statesman from Cincinnati, were all defeated. By accident they all met in Chicago just after the election and were dining together. McKinley, not then realizing his splendid future, and Butterworth ex- the idea that did not the in pressed they regret result; than fact, were rather glad otherwise, as they could now attend to their private afFairs, etc. Uncle Joe, who is a as lis- plain, blunt man, Mark Antony claimed to he, tened to this line of conversation until his patience was exhausted. Then he blurted out: "Oh, hell! boys, tell that to the marines. There's no use for us to lie to one 11 another! It hurts, and it hurts damned bad! It looks as though Uncle Joe lias a life-tenure, as all parties in his district have agreed to give him a unanimous nomination in 1920. The first man to serve thirty consecutive years in the Senate was Col. Thomas Hart Benton, of Missouri. Had he been willing to conciliate anybody he would have served in the Senate till his death, April 10, 1858, which would have given him one month and six days more than thirty-seven years in that "august- body." Subsequently to his thirty years in tin: Senate "six full Roman lus- trums," as he boastedhe served two years in the House, When Colonel Benton finished his one term in the House he not only held the record for length of senatorial but also for length of combined Congressional service, ^ service in the two Houses a period of thirty-two years. Nobody equaled his senatorial length of service until venerable S. March 4, 1897, when the Justin Merrill, of Vermont, entered upon his thirty-first senatorial year. the Morrill had had twelve years in House prior to going to the Senate. He served twelve years in tlie House and thirty-one years, nine months, and twenty-four days in the Senate, which, added to his twelve years as a Repre- sentative, gives him a total of forty-three years, nine months, and twenty-four days of Congressional service, and the record exceeding that of William B. Allison, of Iowa, by four months and twenty-four days. He had eight years in the House and thirty-five years and five months in the Senate. Since Benton's day several men have equaled Benton 's senatorial length of service: John Sherman, of Ohio; John P. Jones and William M. Stewart, of Nevada; Shelby M. Cullom, of Illinois; Eugene Hale, of Maine; Francis M. Cockrell, of Missouri; Henry M. Teller, of Colorado; John T. Morgan, of Alabama; and William P. Frye, of Maine. Sherman served thirty-two years in the Senate, in two sections of sixteen years each, resigning once to be Secretary of the Treasury and once to be Secretary of State. His public service in Washington was close to forty-six years in House, Senate, and Cabinet. The senatorial service of Stewart of Nevada and of Teller of Colorado was in two sections, so that Missouri, which was the first state to furnish the country a Senator for thirty years of consecutive service, remains to this day one of two states to give two Senators each thirty other state being Maine. Colonel Jienton was defeated reason of a for a sixth term by bitter feud in the Demo- while General Cockicll cratic party, lost his sixth term because of the Roosevelt landslide, which gave the lie- a of ten on ballot in the Missouri publicans majority joint Legislature. In order for a Representative to serve a long time, he must begin young, the politics of his district must remain the same, and he must continue to be the favorite of his constituents. Likewise, in order for a man to have a

long senatorial career he must begin young, the politics df his state must remain the same, and he must continue his party favorite in his state. It not infrequently happens tiiat a prominent member of the House is defeated for re-election. Indeed, a promi- nent member seems as liable to defeat as an inconspicu- ous one. About half of the prominent ones who arc defeated "come back." Examples of these nre G. " Joseph Cannon, of Illinois; Silver" Dick Bland, of Missouri; Gen. Daniel K. Sickles; Sereno K. Payne; General Kct- cham, all of New York; Galusha Grow, of Pennsylvania; and William S. Ilohnan, of Indiana. Usually, if they ever come back, it is at the next election hut there was an interval of thirty-two years between General Sickles's two terms and of over th ty-one years between Grow's two services. Grow, who succeeded David Wilmot, of Wilmot Proviso fame, in 1851, was elected for six consec- utive terms, being Speaker the last term, and was de- feated for rc-clecrion to die I louse in 1862. He is the only member ever defeated for ve-eleeiion to the Hovisc while Speaker. He re-entered the House in the summer of 1894, served several years, being highly regarded as a sort of antique political curio. tne OKI JJHLOU n/on-m u^i^v, tuv. v.j< W1 iciunn favorable to of service bills, was much more length than the first were is our system. In place, they permitted to enter Parliament at an earlier age than we do. Charles James Fox, for instance, began his great parliamentary career at nineteen. The facts that in Great Britain a man may represent any constituency and that the various constituencies do not hold elections on the same day are favorable to the continuance of the more prominent members in the House. If a prominent member is defeated by one con- stituency he can appeal to another. Indeed, Mr. Balfour, the great Tory leader, was defeated by two constituencies in the last sweeping Liberal victory, and was forced to appeal to a third before he could obtain an election, and it is generally believed that he succeeded even then only through connivance of the Liberal leaders and by reason of their generosity or wisdom. The one fact, however, which contributed most to length of service in the old times was the rotten-borough system, where there were few voters, and they controlled absolutely by certain great families. A duke or carl sometimes practically owned a dozen or more seats in the House of Commons, disposing of them to whomsoever they pleased generally, of course, to their sons or to those who would be of the greatest political benefit. Some of the most brilliant and famous British statesmen began their careers by representing rotten or pocket boroughs among them the elder Pitt, Edmund Burke, and Charles James Fox and a few of them never represented any other sort of constituency. Practically they were appointed rather than elected to the House of Commons. The various reform bills, how- ever, have to a large extent abolished the rotten boroughs, and they now have a representative system somewhat Henry Clay was first appointed to the Senate of the United States for a fragmentary term in 1806, and died in there jn the Senate 1852, being forty-six years between and his exit. It is a his entrance almost certainty that his he could have retained toga and his curulc chair dur- that entire had he so but ing period desired, he was for and the gunning bigger game spent major portion of his manhood days chasing the Presidency, only to see himself passed over and inferior men preferred; for, from the close of Jefferson's administration in 1809 to the end of Fillmore's in 1853, during which Clay reached the end of his long and tempestuous search for the unattainable, as a popular leader indeed, as a popular idol -he over- topped all the Presidents save Andrew Jackson alone his most relentless foe. Between the beginning and end of his senatorial career Clay held several offices and played many parts, always with an eye on the White House. After his brief senatorial service by appointment, he was again a member of the state House of Representatives, and its Speaker; served another fragment of a senatorial term, that time by election. He was then elected to the national House of Representatives, and chosen Speaker, for six full terms, but not consecutive. In 1814 he re- signed to go to Ghent as Peace Commissioner, along with John Quincy Adams, Albert Gallalin, James A. Bayard, and Jonathan Russell. As soon as he returned to America lie was, as a matter of course, again elected to (lie House, and, equally as a matter of course, again chosen Speaker. Once more he resigned to mend his financial fortunes. After a year or two at the bar he once more returned to the I louse and to the Spcakership. After serving in both the House and the Chair ten years and two hundred and forty-five He ran for the his presidential aspirations. Presidency and the in 1824, 1832, 1840, 1844, 1848 Congest chase on record. He was gouged out of the Whig nomination the in 1840 and 1848, chiefly through Machiavellian machinations of Thurlow Weed, one of the New York Whig triumvirate of Seward, Weed, and Greeley, which was dissolved in 1854 by the angry "withdrawal of the junior partner" in a letter which is the queerest com- pound in all literature of wit, sarcasm, caustic, and pathos. Greeley was madder than a bald hornet because he had received no pap, but he evened up the score with his senior partners at Chicago in 1860, when he slipped his stiletto under Seward's fifth rib and commended the poisoned chalice to their own lips. After his defeat for the Whig presidential nomination in 1848, Clay uttered this plaint, which will forever echo down the corridors of time: "I am the most unfortunate of men always nominated when no Whig can be elected always defeated for the nomination when any Whig could be elected." CHAPTER IX

Carlisle Lnmont Bissell Cleveland WcondinaufiurationGrcsliam Olncy Vice-President Stevenson.

'"THE weather in Washington, March 4, 1893 the day 1 on which Grovcr Cleveland was inaugurated the sec- ond time, and on which I began my long Congressional servicewas as bad as mortal man ever endured windy, It of the stormy, snowy, sleety, icy. was prophetic politi- cal weather during the last Cleveland administration. Scores of people lost their lives by braving that tempestu- ous weather. The clay of Cleveland's first inauguration was ideal for his enthusi- bright, sunshiny, balmy and eight years astic followers dubbed every fine day "Cleveland weather," just as Napoleon and his worshipers were forever prating of "The Sun of Austerlir/."; hut the miir- row-freeling day of his second inauguration ended the rejoicing about "Cleveland weather." No ear has heard of it any more. The outgoing and incoming; Presidents, who had taken it turn about in defeating each other, rode up to the Capitol toother and entered the Senate Chamber side by side --Ck-vdand towering a full head above It.'im- son and weighing nearly twice as much. Sitting down, Gen. Benjamin Harrison looked as tall as Mr. Cleveland. His low stature grew out of the shortness of his legs,

\vllnrnio A K <, U .. .*, T '. ..,. I .,'.. + ,,...,. ..1 .1 . K,.!,.l,i- 11110 slu/t such cases to which there are only three exceptions. was in suck a because of his John Adams huff^ defeat that he would not remain in Washington to see Jefferson Adams inducted into office. John Quincy would not stay to witness General Jackson's inauguration because the old hero had not called on him which the old hero failed and neglected to do because, as he alleged, Adams had helped circulate slanders about his wife. Nobody believes that now, but the Iron Soldier did believe it with all his heart, for he believed anything and everything discreditable to his enemies. Andrew Johnson and General Grant hated each other so cordially that neither was willing to ride or walk with the other. Consequently Johnson was not present at Grant's inauguration. The President-elect, uncovered, delivered his inaugural address at the east front of the Capitol, without notes and with perfect sang-froid, in a clear, ringing voice, to a vast concourse of his fellow-citizens, most of whom were clapping their hands, threshing their arms about their bodies, stamping their feet, and moving about to prevent being converted into pillars of ice, as Lot's wife was con- verted into a pillar of salt. The cadets from West Point and Annapolis threw down their guns and danced a war jig, to keep their blood from congealing in their veins. When the President concluded, a mighty shout went up, and everything was merry as a marriage-bell. The Presi- dent's beautiful young wife, muffled in handsome and abundant furs, was the cynosure of all eyes, and even the President's heavy and solemn countenance lighted up with a glad smile when he gazed upon her happy face. It appeared queer to me that the Congress did not, at nut 1 olid not know tncn naif as reasonably expected, vis inertia as I know much about Congressional now. The city was full to overflowing with jubilant Demo- President Cleveland not the crats, who counted only had led them Moses of Democracy who through the Red into of the Sea and the Wilderness sight Promised Land, into but also the Joshua who had brought them safely Canaan, flowing with milk and honey. They were anx- All sorts ious for the feast. of Democrats were there men and women from the plains, the mountains, the val- from mine and forest and mill and leys, the seashore, and from the and shop, from farm, village, city, army the the old navy, from the prize-ring, college, pulpit mossback Democrats who lived on husks had for a gen- eration jostled and touched elbows with a lot of dilettante eleventh-hour converts who were as hungry as the most ancient old-timers. The regular soldiers were there by the thousand, men of wars, men with their jaunty uni- forms were there by the hundreds -all fraternizing with the handsome lads from West Point and Annapolis and with several thousand Naiionnl Guardsmen. Every to- species of musical instrument known among men, was in gether with every sort: of toy for noise-making, use that da}', mingling with the camion's roar, the shrill whistles of engines, and the ear-splitting shout of an in- numerable throng of hilarious Democrats chanting:

*** "Grovi-rl Giovcrl I'our years mw of (iroverl And now we'll live In clover I"

Even our Republican friends, with that generosity characteristic of Americans, acting on the biblical injunc- tion, "Rejoice with those- that do rejoice," helped us cele- was the first great and noisy day. That one since the of 4th of March, 18593 period thirty-four long, wear- that we had had the ing, wearisome years President and both Houses of Congress. No hody of men in the annals of politics had ever made such a long, courageous, dis- heartening, but triumphant fight as Democrats had made from the split in the Democratic Convention at Charles- ton in 1860 to the close of the polls in 1892, when they swept the country from sea to sea, securing an over- whelming majority of both the popular and the electoral vote, carrying all the doubtful states, together with such rock-ribbed Republican strongholds as Wisconsin and Illinois. They captured half the electoral votes of Michi- gan, and, to the surprise of everybody, Mr. Cleveland secured one electoral vote in Ohio, which magnificent state mother of statesmen and Presidents had not voted for a Democratic President since 1852, when Franklin Pierce carried all the states in the Union except four. In fact, she had rarely chosen Democratic electors even prior to 1852. "Twas a famous victory!" After hard trials and great tribulations, after a long series of humiliating defeats, we stood proudly on the Mount of Victory, sat in the scats of the Mighty, held every coign of vantage, and had every place of power at our disposal.

No pent-up Utica contracted our powers, But the whole boundless continent was ours.

Most assuredly we had a right to rejoice, nnd we did rejoice to the limit. No people ever went to bed happier than the Demo- crats on the night of March 4, 1893. In looking back upon that uproarious and eventful day blindness to the future kindly given That each may fill the circle marked by Heaven, Who sees with equal eye, as God of nil, A hero perish or a sparrow fall.

The unalloyed joy of Democrats was of short duration. March the 5th President Cleveland announced his Cabi-

net, and thereby slapped every Democrat betwixt the two seas squarely in the face by appointing Gen. Walter of of State. Q. Gresham, Chicago, Secretary That ap- had the effect of an ice-bath pointment upon the enthu- siasm of old, battle-scarred Democrats who had borne the heat and burden of the day many a day -who had cheerfully and gallantly led many a forlorn hope, who had been often defeated, but never conquered, and who believed that the election of 1892 was a Democratic triumph, pure and simple. It was a blow over the heart from which the veterans never recovered. They could neither understand nor justify it, and, truth to tell, the remnants of the Old Guard cannot understand it to this day. They resented it bitterly; they still re.sent it; not only those seeking appointive ofliccs, but the "boys at the forks of the creek" and "in the trenches," who want no offices and expect none, but who light- die battles of Democracy for the love of fighting, for what: Ctcsar de- nominates gnatlinm ccrlaminis the joy of the conflict. These men, all over the country -and there was a vast: army of them- -dcnovmced President Cleveland ;is a "mugwump." Their idol was sham-rod, their mouths were in the dust, and they were utterly ineons< lable. They believed that Simon-purr Democrats were en- titled to the rewards, and they knew that whatever else General Greshnm was, he was not: a Democrat, or that if 01 mandmg presence, 01 nne^Dinty, peuect integrity, ot and with an spotless reputation, unimpeachable record in both civil and military service. He bore honorable scars the states. He acquired in the war between rose to the rank of major-general in the Union Army. He had held two Cabinet portfolios under President Arthur, and had discharged his duties faithfully and well. For many years he was Federal district judge in Indiana, and when President Cleveland made him Secretary of State he was a Circuit Federal judge and lived in Chicago. AH these honors had been conferred upon him as a Republican. In the famous Chicago Republican Convention of 1888 he had been a strong contender for the presidential nomi- nation, but his hated Indiana rival, Gen. Benjamin Harrison, walked away with the glittering and greatly coveted prize, very much to the disgust and disappoint- ment of General Gresham. There was an ancient and deadly feud between this twain bitter as that between the Montagues and Capulets. How it originated this deponent saith not, because he knoweth not, but it is a matter of common knowledge that it existed not only existed, but was of the proverbial intensity of a family feud both being Union generals, both Indiana Repub- licans rivals both at the bar and in politics. Whether General Gresham voted for General Harrison in 1888 and 1892, or sulked in his tent, or voted for President Cleve- land, is problematical, but the patent fact remains that as late as 1888 he was a full-fledged Republican of influence and eminence. This fact the rank and file of Democrats knew full well, and they did not believe that even if he came over to the Democrats in 1888 which they doubted he should be given the highest place in a Democratic Cabinet. Perhaps if they had thought that there would be no more cases on all-fours with his. they might have JR. n. A ivi & i ^ IN r u i, i i i ij b 235 of ment was only a precursor many more of the same sort sick at heart. and they were the It so happened that Secretaryship of State turned out to be apples of Sodom to General Gresham. The not to his duties of the place were taste, and he found no in them. lie would have made a attor- pleasure capital or of the Court ney-general justice Supreme 'because in the line of his of his they were profession life-work. So on the night of March the 5th "a change came o'er of the spirit" of the dreams thousands of Democrats, and out of they began filing Washington, headed for the cave of Adullam, ready for revolt. Of General Grcsham's appointment, Mr. George F. Parker, one of Mr. Cleveland's most partial and enthusi- astic biographers, says: "The Secretaryship of State, conferred upon Judge Walter Q. Gresham, was the one surprise of the Cabinet. I have never yet heard of any man to whom Mr. Cleveland had spoken about this office in connection with the appointee, and nobody was ever able to explain how or why he was chosen.'* The President appointed as his Secretary of the Treas- ury John Griffin Carlisle, of Kentucky, then the most popular Democrat in America, but who lived to be rotten- egged in his home city of Covington, so bitterly did his old constituents resent bis advocacy of the Gold Stand- ard. What Mr. Carlisle thought on thai sad and unfor- tunate occasion can only be imagined. Being a well-read man, he may have bad (be poor consolation of recalling certain historical facts that Hannibal was banished by the Carthaginians and died by suicide in a foreign land; that John De-Witt was lorn limb from limb in front of bis own Senate House bv :in inf'inniird nmh: ih:il Snrrnccs sacnusetts passea resuiuLiuna ui icuauic upon Sumner in his old age, and other like instances; but all these and all other similar cases where the people, "the Lincoln loved to call plain people," as Abraham them, had turned against popular idols, justly or unjustly, could have afforded little compensation for the loss of the love of a mighty people which he had thrown away "like the base Indian who cast a pearl away, richer than all his tribe," for, after Henry Clay and John C. Breckenridge, Carlisle was more fondly loved by the Kentuckians than any other man. He had had a long and notable career. He was a great lawyer. He had served in both Houses of the Kentucky Legislature, and as lieutenant-governor. He served many years in the National House of Representatives; was Speaker thereof for three full terms, and by common consent is rated as one of the great Speakers. At the time of his appointment to the Treasury portfolio he was a Senator of the United States, with every prospect of retaining his toga and curule chair, till he died of old age or voluntarily retired. To him more than to any other is due the long and successful fight for Tariff Reform which culminated in the tremendous Democratic victory of 1892. The masses wanted him for President in 1892, and most probably he would have been nominated had the leaders believed he could get the aid of as many independent voters as could Grover Cleveland. The desire to secure the independent vote gave the nomination to the ex- President by the skin of his teeth. The truth is that any respectable Democrat could have been elected that year. In view of all the foregoing facts, the bestowal of the Secretaryship of the Treasury upon "the Great Ken- tuckian" was very popular, particularly among the Silver to nave nun conduct tnc nnancial especially glad depart- ment of the government. He had made the greatest that ever fell from human a Silver speech lips speech unanswered and unanswerable, which Mr. Carlisle him- than else self came nearer answering anybody ever did. distinction of He enjoys the peculiar having made both the best double-standard speech and also the best single Gold Standard speech ever delivered since the world he became a Gold began. When single Standard advo- cate it nearly broke the hearts of his friends, who had followed his fortunes with unshaken fidelity and who had dreamed for twenty years of placing him in the White House. In hundreds of thousands of homes his name was accursed. Right or wrong, his Gold Standard his career. speech ended political He supported Palmer and Buckner, neither of whom was worthy to untie his intellectual shoe-latchets. It was a sad close to a public career which added a new glory to the Republic. To me, a Kentuckian bom ami bred, his change of base and his political downfall constituted a sore political and personal bereavement. My feeling for him was not only one of profound admiration, but also of deep per- sonal affection. I have never abused him. 1 could not find it in my heart so to do. Hut; I have grieved ever since he committed political suicide. If he had continued as he began, he would have been nominated, and elected President in 1896, for it was Carlisle far more than Presi- dent Cleveland who created the Gold Standard sentiment in the West and South. And what a President he would have made I easily the peer mentally of any Chief Executive of the Republic. Daniel S. Lamont, of New York, was Secretary of War a most capable official as well as a delightful gentleman. born. It is said that the reason why Colonel Lamont left off making money hand over fist, to accept the war the which it would his portfolio, was fame bring children. If his reputation proves as ephemeral as that of most of his predecessors, it was hardly worth acquiring. One feat of memory of which Thomas Babington Macaulay boasted was that he could give the names ot all the Popes in both regular and reverse order. The chances are a thousand to one that no citizen of the Republic can repeat seriatim the names of the Secretaries of War. Truly fame is a vapor. There are, however, some familiar, a few great, and one or two well-beloved names in that list. It contains one President of the United States James Monroe and the only President of the Confederate states Jefferson Davis, and it is a curious coincidence that -while these two illus- trious men achieved their most enduring reputation as civilians they cherished most their reputations as soldiers. The same thing is true of Aaron Burr and Thomas H. Benton, though neither attained higher rank in the army than lieutenant-colonel. Burr wanted to be a brigadier- general pending our troubles with France during John Adams's Presidency, and there was serious talk of making Benton the Commander-in-chief of the American Army jn Mexico, with the rank of lieutenant-general. Had that project been consummated, "Old Bujlion" would probably have reached the Presidency, and thereby have taken from Missouri her great reproach of barrenness in that regard. Two other Secretaries of War Lewis Cass and John Bellwere nominated for the Presidency, but failed of the glittering prize. William H. Crawford, John C. Calhoun, William L. of to tne unict Secretaries War, aspired Magistracy of the Cnlhoun came nearer it than the as Republic. others, elected to the it he was twice Vice-Presidency. Had not O'Ncil's and been for Peggy tantrums, the row which crew out of them, and the active part which Mrs. Calhoun took in the crusade against the Irish beauty, and the cunning political use -which sly Mr. Van Burcn made of a nullifter the tempest in teapot, the great might have succeeded "Old Hickory." I3ut no man whose wife was anti-Peggy found favor in the eyes of the grim old Lion of the Hermitage. of John Marshall, who was Secretary War for six days, was afterward Chief Justice of the United States for nearly thirty-five years. Lament was entitled to one benediction from the Ser- mon 011 the Mount: "IJlcsscd arc the peacemakers." In when he was the President's politics, especially private secretary during Mr. Cleveland's first term, that was his chief business; and certainly since that famous utterance no man needed a peacemaker on his stall' more than Mr. Cleveland. He had no equal in provoking men to wrath and Lament no rival in applying poultices and adminis- tering soothing-syrup. As an emollient for soreheads and sore-headed politicians he excelled slippery elm or any- thing else in the ntali'ria -nift/ica. Thurbcr, presidential secretary in the .second Cleveland administration, was just the reverse, am! after the Presi- dent had ruhhed the skin oil* a visiting siatesman Tluirbcr came in the nature of si rung li.sh brine to make his wounds smart not that he wanted lo he jtcrsutui nti grata to any human being, hut because lie was so rigged up that his efforts to be hail-fellow with disgruntled statesmen only aggravated them the more. A man whom Mr. Cleve- K i ^ K ^ z* w i u is. i vj r 240 M Y y u A

Thurber lived much in an tempted. In truth, as^ en- chanted world as did the melancholy Knight de la Mancha, and to him Mr. Cleveland's hat was a veritable enchanted helmet of Mambrino. Lament was the nonpareil of private secretaries, and was decidedly the smoothest member of the Cabinet. He accomplished more with less friction than any of the men who stuck their legs beneath the presidential mahogany. Physically he was blond, bald, willowy, graceful. For Lament the country is indebted to Daniel Manning, a past-master in both politics and journalism. When Mr. Cleveland was unexpectedly elected Governor of New York he knew very few public men in the state, and asked Manning to select some bright young man, with good manners, common sense, and a large acquaint- ance among politicians, as his private secretary. Man- ning picked Lament, who was then a reporter on bis paper, The Albany Argus. Thus began Lament's political rise, which was as rapid as that of his patron. Newspaper work is a first-rate schooling for public life. Horace Greeley, Henry J. Raymond, Henry VVatterson, James Brooks, Daniel Manning, Thomas Hart Benton, Carl Schutz, B. Gratz Brown, Joseph Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst, "Sunset" Cox, James G. Blaine, Amos J. Cummings, Senator Hawley, Governor Dingley, Cap- tain Boutelle, and divers others who have succeeded in politics once set type, did reportorial work, or edited papers. of his a and chew the end pencil week, waiting for an idea He must strike while or for inspiration. the iron is hot. Consequently newspaper men in Congress arc among the talkers and most skilful wrestlers. readiest They may as the not be as profound philosophers, but in the general melee usually come out on top. Another habit of incalculable value to a public man is induced by newspaper work that is, of noting people's habits, and peculiarities, capabilities, idiosyncrasies or, in other words, of reading human nature, Mr. Cleveland seemed to have a penchant for editors as constitutional advisers, having had one, Daniel Manning, in his first Cabinet, and having three, Lament, Moke Smith, and in his second. J. Sterling Morton, Over and over again the saying that all that glitters is not gold finds confirmation, Mrs. Lamont was one of the most popular of the Cabinet ladies. Her soirees and dinners and receptions were, universally pronounced de- lived in a beautiful lightful. She home, had lovely children, a distinguished husb;md, and a host of friends. Thousands of women envied her. Hut after the manner of Lot's wife, she sometimes looked back with longing eyes, so it is said, toward vanished scenes. Somebody once asked her what was the happiest period of her life. "When Dan was a newspaper reporter at- one hundred dollars per month," replied the lady whose liege lord (hen stood fourth in the line of succession to the White Mouse. No able-bodied man in America looked less like a son of Mars or a disciple of Bt-llona than Mr. Secretary Lamont, unless it was den. Joe Wheeler, who was a lieutenant-general at twenty-seven, and who did a vast deal of hard lighting. of a civilian to a soldier for a Secretary War; consequently have been civilians. a majority of the Secretaries To borrow a simile from railroaders, Colonel Lament, was the best "buffer" that ever as private secretary, stood between a President and the surging multitude of Con- gressmen and their place-hunting constituents, and the same suavity, tact, graciousness, and bonhomie which made him a universal favorite then stood him in good stead in his higher station. Above all, he was a man of wondrous common sense, and an excellent judge of men, with an astonishing facility for keeping his mouth shut except when it was necessary for him to talk. If it be true that "speech is silver but silence is golden," then Lamontwas a bonanza gold-mine. Since his day the President's "private secretary" has been promoted to "the secretary to the President," with an increased salary, but the duties are the same. The secretary to the President is a far more important func- tionary than most people wot of, and exercises a potent influence on the course of public affairs, having the presi- dential ear whenever he desires it. He hears many things about persons that the President does not hear. He sees many folks that the President cannot sec for lack of time. When somebody asked Gen. Joseph E. Johnston why he did not capture Washington the night after the first battle of Bull Run, he replied: "Because I did not have soldiers twenty feet tall so they could wade the Potomac!" Probably the reason why the President can- not receive all callers is that the year has only three hundred and sixty-five days, and the day only twcnty- four hours. The chances are that a President is the busiest man in America, and the secretary to the President the next busiest. In patience he must ex necessitate rival of the Committee on Naval the chairmanship Affairs, was His service in Secretary of the Navy. Congress caused the him to take things by smooth handle, and made him favorite. a prime The Postmaster-General was Wilson S. Bisscll, of Buf- the President's old law falo, New York, partner. He was much of the Cleveland type both mentally and physi- about callyin the latter regard being one ami a half times as large as the President. General Bisscll had had no taste for did no experience in public service, it, not want to be in the Cabinet, and gladly quit it in the middle of his term. There has for years been an apocryphal story floating around in the Mississippi Valley to the effect that once Col. K. D. then a upon a time a man found Baker, youth in Illinois, afterward a Senator from Oregon, who was colonel of the "California Regiment," and died a soldier's death at Ball's Bluft', sitting on a log in the woods, crying as though his heart would break. Int.errogatctl as to why those tears, he blubbered out that lit: was weeping because he could never be President of the United States, by reason of having been born an Englishman. Nobody need shed many briny tears at the idea of never being a Cabinet Minister, for it is certainly not a 1 it is bed of roses . Under almost any circumstances what Mr. Mantalini would have called "a tlemnition horrid grind." Under such a domineering, dictatorial President as Mr. Cleveland, a Cabinet position was nothing more than a head-clerkship. Why any man of reputation would resign a sent in ilu: Senate or House for that gilded slavery is one of the unfathomable mysirries. Christopher Columbus, Ulysses S. Grant, and Grovcr Cleveland were all alike in one respect -they all went portfolios. Grant was a soldier and distrusted all civilians until he that he could learned, by bitter experience, not get along well without trusting such men as Roscoe Conkling, who had never set a squadron in the field. Cleveland appeared to delight in digging up and induct- ing into high places statesmen who had studiously and successfully hidden their talents in a napkin until he turned his flashlight upon them. Four of his second Cabinet were utterly unknown out- side their own particular bailiwicks. The great body of the people had never heard of them. When their names were announced on March 6, 1893, men pinched themselves to see if they were awake, gazed at each other as stupidly as Dickens's Fat Boy, suddenly roused from sleep, and wonderingly asked one another, "Who is Bissell? Who is Olney?" Nine-tenths of them pronounced Olney's name wrong for be it known that the "o" in his name is long, as in "note," and not short, as in "hop." Yet Olney and Bissell were the only ones in the list destined to quit Mr. Cleveland's Cabinet-table with enhanced reputation and enlarged popularity. Bissell was a tall man over six feet a huge man and by no means bad-looking. Neither was he fat-witted. That law firm of Cleveland & Bissell must have had great weight in court. In manner General Bissell was blunt, brusk, austere, irascible, until you penetrated the case of reserve in which he had ensconced himself, when he was pleasant, playful, and gracious. There was nothing bizarre, dilettante, or whimsical about him. He discharged his onerous duties conscientiously, according to his lights. These were sometimes flickering, dim, and uncertain, growing largely out of the fact that he had had no official or political law, which him little of corporation brought very into the masses. contact with Nevertheless, he did his best. His office of Postmaster-General, more than any other Cabinet position, brings the incumbent into personal re- lations with Senators, Representatives, and office-seekers. few of During the first months his term he was the most in he unpopular man Washington, Gradually wore off increased his his angularities, acquaintance, softened the of his and in so asperities style, grew popularity, that when he quitted the office at the end of two years every- body felt very kindly toward him. Under no circum- stances whatever would he ever have inspired enthusias- tic devotion to his person, but I believe that if he had filled out the four years he would have been the most in the Col. popular man Cabinet, always excepting Daniel S. Lamont, who was a universal favorite. The truth is that, like old Doctor Johnson, General Bissell had nothing of the bear about him except the coat. In the beginning General Bissell was much disposed to run things with a high hand. Whether he learned that from Cleveland or Cleveland learned it from him, or whether they were both born that way, or whether that was the bond of union between thorn, J don't know. The saying, "When Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war," had a fine illustration when General Bissell and Hailcy of Texas ran afoul of each other, if a piece of gossip which flouted around Washington was true. Nothing thav ever won: the human form could bully Bailey, lie would hold himself erect and express his honest convictions in any presence, however august. The story ran in this wise: During the month between wcic HU mc

Church, and I am not cocksure that mv cood friends. cnurcn lost they can rest assured their notning m dig- from version of its nity, influence, or numbers my origin and history. When I had concluded my theological address I felt reasonably sure of success, but several times I have been of and sorely disappointed in verdicts juries decisions of courts, and what happened just then did not give me a favorable opinion of my persuasive powers as an orator or of General Bissell as a subject. He looked at me, solemn as an owl, and said, "I don't want to appoint that man." "Why?" I asked. "Be- cause he runs a livery-stable," came the astonishing answer. Now be it remembered that General Bissell had a tem- per of his own. I have very little reputation for being wanting in that respect myself. So I concluded if we undertook then and there to argue so preposterous a proposition that it wouldn't increase our friendship to any remarkable extent or end in helping my man, which was the main thing. In order to collect my scattered thoughts I went over to the House. There I saw John DeWitt Warner. I said, "Warner, what sort of a man is Bissell, anyhow?" "He's honest, and firm in his convictions," replied the great free-trader. Then I told him my case. "Oh," he said, "Bissell is all right, but he has never been out of Buffalo much. He sometimes forms his conclusions from inadequate premises deduces a rule from too few in- stances. He probably knew some disreputable man in Buffalo \vho ran a livery-stable, and jumped to the con- clusion that all Uvery-stnble keepers are a tough lot." So I thought and thought all day. Bissell had told me once that he could remember what I wrote better than what I said, consequently I wrote him nn Affectionate did understand the west of the Missis- etc., but country and that to conduct a livery-stable out there was sippi, as to law or sell as respectable practise dry-goods, and the man that frequently livery-stable was the most influen- the and tial man in community, much more of the same

sort. The letter appeared to have the desired effect, for in a few days the man whom I recommended got the office. The very next morning I went after the general for another postmaster. "Not to-day, young man," he said, with a benignant smile. "You arc too greedy. You must take your turn and give others a chance, I ap- a for and I don't believe pointed man you yesterday yet that he ought to have been appointed, but I did not want a black in to give you eye your own town" -which was certainly kind and generous in him. At the end of two years, after lie had become acquainted with everybody, and everybody had come to like him, General Bissell grew weary of his honors and the trap- his to pings of power, and resigned place return to his law practice. No wonder, for no slave on a treadmill ever worked harder or more constantly. It's astonishing that it did not worry him into the shape of a living skeleton.

J. Sterling Morton, of Nebraska, a pioneer Democrat in that state while it was yet a territory, was Secretary of Agriculture the third to hokl thav oil'ice, Gov. Norman

J. Colcman, of Missouri, being the first, and "Uncle Jerry" Rusk, of Wisconsin, tin: second. At that time: the Secretary of Agriculture was called "the baby of tin; Cabinet," the Department of Commerce and the Depart- ment of Labor not having then been created. Hoke Smith, of Georgia, a prominent lawyer and editor. attitude toward the Uemocratic presidential ticket in about six months 1896 Secretary Smith resigned before the his term was up, and supported Democratic ticket. He was succeeded by Gov. David R. Francis, of Missouri, now the American ambassador to the Court of Petrograd. There was a good deal of gossip as to the why and wherefore of the appointment of so young a man as Mr. Smith to the Cabinet. Nobody who knew him doubted his ability but Georgians, who loved him not, asserted that he was selected to punish Evan P. Howell, the veteran editor of The Atlanta Constitution, a rival The Constitution paper to Smith's Journal. had vigor- ously supported Governor and Senator David Bennett Hill for the presidential nomination, while The Journal had just as vigorously supported Mr. Cleveland. The President was very human, and while he did not agree to the proposition contained in Representative Tim Camp- bell's witty and far-resounding query, "Mr. President, what is the Constitution betwixt friends?" he did possess the rare virtue of standing by his friends, and Hoke Smith, Secretary of the Interior, was one result of that trait in President Cleveland's character and one of the chief beneficiaries thereof. He in turn was loyal to his Georgia friends, and ap- pointed so many of them to office that Republican humorists made merry with him, saying that "We once marched through Georgia under General Sherman, but now Georgia under the leadership of Mr. Secretary Smith is marching through us." Richard Obey, an eminent Boston lawyer, was Attor- ney-General. He discharged his duties well, no doubt, but in that office he did not enhance his reputation. When, however, Mr. Secretary of State Gresham died, and Mr. Attornev-Cipnpvsl Oliipv w^ nrnmnrpr! rn li!s his but of the world. His only of country, strong, em- almost bellicose, assertion of the Mon- phatic, luminous, in celebrated roe Doctrine, the squabble with Great Brit-

ain touching her threatened encroachment upon the little the territory of Venezuela, warmed cockles of the American heart and gave him enduring fame as one of of State. our greatest Secretaries Those new-fangled statesmen who think the Monroe Doctrine is obsolete would do well to consider Mr. Secretary Olney's pro- nouncements on that subject and be wise. Rev. Sidney Smith one-third preacher and two-thirds wit declared that when God created the world He made round holes and three-cornered holes, and round people and three-cornered people to fit into them; but the trouble was that many round people got into three-cornered holes and many three-cornered people got into round holes, and consequently there were many misfits. General Gresham and Mr. Olncy, as Cabinet Ministers, are fine illustrations of Sidney's theory. 1'Yom the beginning Olney should have been Secretary of State and Gresham Attorney-General. Illustrations of Sidney's theory abound on every hand. For instance, General (Irani: was a flat failure as a cord- wood dealer, a real-estate agent, and a merchant, but was a superb soldier. Senator Cbauncey Mitchell Depew stoutly maintains that most mm desire ro bo what they cannot be, and In: declares that (Jencral Grant's consum- ing ambition was to be an orator!

1 It is nowhere recorded (hat Samuel I ". Miller one of the greatest justices of the Supreme Conn- -was a .shining success as a shoemaker or as a country doctor, which lie. was til! past thirty, but nobody will deny his pre-eminence as a lawver and a iuiist. Hlessed is the man who dis- ...*. .i .President, inueeu, nc Y^L\/*, Presidents put together, Andrew Johnson standing second that he used in that regard. The fact many hours in of individual writing vetoes of hundreds small, pension contributed much to his bills, during his first term, defeat was in so in 1888. But he believed that he right doing, from his course of and nothing could turn him action. in book form and The Republicans printed them circu- lated the book widely as a campaign document, greatly to his injury. While he could lay no claim to oratory, he was an not but it effective speaker. His voice was loud, was resonant and carried far, filling the largest hall. His ^ enunciation was excellent and distinct. His gestures were few and appropriate. His stage presence was im- virtue he as a pressive. One great possessed public speakerhe thoroughly believed what he said, and thereby he made his auditors believe what he said- which is a matter of vast advantage on the stump, plat- form, or hustings, or in the pulpit. Evidently he bad a fine memory, for he rarely used notes, and yet he adhered closely to the text of his written addresses. He indulged in no rhetorical flourishes, eschewed wit and humor, quoted little poetry, and made few historical allusions. He was not blessed with imag- ination, but was a matter-of-fact man.

A primrose by a river's brim A yellow primrose was to him, And It was nothing more.

When first elected, Mr. Cleveland had seen very little of his own country. He had never been in Washington City until the day before he was sworn in as President. Senator Stewart, of Nevada, was neither a wit nor a humor- able changes on the sentence, He moved West and settled at Buffalo," which Stewart found in the Presi- dent's autobiography, published in The Congressional to the Directory. According Nevada Senator, that was the most preposterous sentence ever put into print. Of course his purpose was to belittle the President, whom he most cordially disliked. He seemed to be much enamoured of the coterie of very able Southern statesmen then to the fore in the Senate. He appointed three of them to his first Cabinet- -Thomas F. Bayard, of Delaware, Secretary of State> who had been one of his competitors for the nomination, and whom, in his second term, he made ambassador to the Court of St. James's; L. Q. C. Lamar, of Mississippi, Secretary of the Interior, whom he promoted to the Supreme Bench; and Augustus H. Garland, of Arkansas, Attorney-General. He thereby weakened very much the Democratic con- tingent in the Senate, but acquired three extraordinarily strong advisers in his Cabinet. Mr, Cleveland is perhaps the only President to have made money in Washington real estate. He is said to have cleaned up something in the neighborhood of one hundred thousand dollars on his summer suburban home, popularly known as "Rcdtop," in u perfectly legitimate manner. He was one of two bachelors to be elected to the Presi- dency -James Buchanan being the other; but President Cleveland soon joined the ranks of the benedicts by marry- ing Miss Frances Kolsom, who by common consent was one of the most graceful and most gracious mistresses of the White House. He was one of three Presidents who married while in that high office, the others being John Tyler ;uu! Wood- While in wasmngiuii, i icoiuunt ^iv^auu mu ms wite in the Dutch Reformed usually worshiped Church. was sworn in the When Mr. Cleveland second time he lacked fourteen days of being fifty-six years old, and was manhood. He stood in the prime of robust about five and feet ten, of massive build, weighed close to three hundred avoirdupois. His eyes were gray, his hair drab his nose and thin, his complexion drab, large and high- his solemn. While in bridged, visage generally gooc] health, at times he suffered intensely from gout. He had set on a short neck of a large, shapely head, unusual circumference, which rested upon shoulders of Herculean in his tout proportions. So conspicuous ensemble was his tried to neck that the wits of the opposition make capital by such side-splitting squibs as "he wears a number seven hat and a number nineteen collar/' and "he can pull his his collar" shirt off without unbuttoning sorry wit, surely, but everything goes in a campaign. His girth was alder- manic, his feet large, and, to use a popular non-classical firm on his expression, "he was pins." He wore a small, grizzled mustache, neatly trimmed. While not by any manner of means a Beau Brummcll, he dressed well and in good taste. He seemed to have taken to heart the advice of Polonius to Laertes:

Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy; For the apparel oft proclaims the man.

Among other things, he generally wore a dark silk necktie with a polka-dot dash of red in it. He displayed little jewelry. In manner he w;is what Mark Antony vaunted himself to be, "a plain, blunt man," which Mark most assuredly was not. While nnihinn- of nn Annltn Me not clearly and deliberately. only moved slowly; he He never went off also thought slowly. half cocked. He wrote a beautiful hand, in small characters, and was exceedingly fond of using polysyllabic words of Latin derivation. The one word which best expresses his ap- is which he illus- pearance "sturdy" descriptio persona trated on every proper occasion. His office was near the head of the stairs in the White House proper, in a bright, sunny room whose windows afforded a splendid view of the Potomac, the Washington Monument, and the Virginia hills. At ten o'clock every morning, except Sundays and Cabinet days, Senators, Representatives, office-seekers, and visitors were received by the President. He stood near the northwest corner of and a big, flat-topped desk, the company at the begin- ning of his second administration a very large one, but toward the close a small one -passed in line before him. He shook hands with all in a very uncordial fashion, speaking a few well-chosen words to each. Evidently he regarded the entire function as a great bore and endeav- ored to make it a rapid-fire performance. Consequently, if any one talked to him longer than he desired, he began to back toward his desk, and if the conversationalist fol- lowed him up, he turned his back and greeted the next visitor. He had a sort of patent- way of shaking h.'inds which he probably invented for si'll-proieciion. He grabbed the visitor's hand, gave it a slight squeeze, and dropped it: like a hot potato. He never under any circumstances whatsoever permitted a visitor to grip his lingu, fat hand. He possessed a sense of humor notwithstanding his face was usually solemn as that of a graven imiigc. Some- "Tim." Before the bitter fight on Silver, for a new member I well. One got along with him very morning shortly after his inauguration I called on him for the first time, and was urging him to appoint one of my constituents, Col. Richard Dalton, Surveyor of the Port of St. Louis. The President said, among other things: "But Mr. Dalton lives one hundred and twenty miles from St. Louis." "I know that, Mr. President," I replied, "but he does not live as far from St. Louis as Daniel Magone lived from New York when you appointed him to a good, fat office in that city." That may have been somewhat imperti- nent in a new member, but it seemed to amuse him. At for I any rate, he remembered it, when next visited him and started to tell him who I was, he grinned and said: "Oh, I remember you! You are the man who jogged my memory about Dan Magone living farther from New York than your friend lives from St. Louis." Dalton finally received the appointment. It is not the reference to probable that Magone accomplished it, but I have always believed that it helped a little. Mr. Cleveland's only recreation appears to have been hunting and fishing. After finally quitting the White House he wrote a series of very interesting articles on that subject for a widely circulated journal, which articles were subsequently published in book form. It is dear to the disciples of Daniel Boone and Izaak Walton. He always rode in a carriage. At least I never saw him on a horse. He was so heavy that he would have needed a Norman Percheron or a Clydesdale for a mount. When that delightful gentleman, former President Will- iam Howard Taft, who was heavier even than Mr. Cleve- land, was Governor-General of the Philippines, the ad- been out and that he had horseback-riding was feeling Root cabled back the is fine. Mr. witty query, "How 1 " the horse feeling! There is no tale in the Arabian Nights more incredible rise to the than Cleveland's Presidency. Luck helped him amazingly. He was born in the village of Caklwcll, where his in northern New Jersey, father was pastor of

a small Presbyterian church. He and his flock did not well and severed their relations in such get on together, away that President Cleveland resented it all his days. the A society has purchased house in which he first saw has of it a the light and made show-place. It has erected a monument to his memory, but nothing ever induced him to set foot in the town. When he had risen the citizens of Caklwcll high in the world, more than once cordially invited him to visit them, but their blandish- ments availed not. Evidently his recollections of the \vcrc place and people unpleasant.. When I lectured in Caldwell several years ago, a very old man told me that he remembered well seeing the rider Cleveland start on the long trek to western New York with his wife, children, and all their earthly possessions in a Conastoga wagon, little G rover sitting in the rear with his bare, chubby legs and feet dangling over the hind gate. He taught school as soon ;is he was old enough, read law and practised it, was elected she rift" of Kile County, served as assistant prosecuting attorney by appointment, ran for the oflice of prosecuting attorney and was de- feated, on a reform wave was defied mayor of liufFalo in 1882 by a combination of Demncnits aiul Independents. At the beginning of that year the betting would have been at least twenty to one that the Republicans would to that valuable patronage pertaining office. The Democratic mayor of nearly every big city in the state was a candidate for the gubernatorial nomination, the and to get their names in papers, Cleveland won. When made, his nomination was apparently almost worthless. In an hour, lucky for him but fatal to the Republicans, President Arthur forced the nomination of his Secretary a of the Treasury, Charles J. Folger, "Stalwart," for Governor, and it was charged by the "Featherheads," or "Half-breeds/' that a telegraphic proxy had been forged by the Stalwarts to control the State Committee. A great uproar ensued, and, notwithstanding the facts that Folger was a man of high character and was univer- sally conceded to have been an able judge of the state's Supreme Court, they would have none of him, and on Election Day either bolted openly or sulked in their tents. Consequently Cleveland was elected by a plurality of one hundred and ninety-two thousand, unprecedented till then, and his road to the White House was clear. Though his plurality was one hundred and ninety-two thousand, he ran eight thousand behind David ftennett Hill, who was the candidate for lieutenant-governor on the same ticket with Kim, but by some queer and convenient lapse of memory his biographers fail to mention that small but interesting fact. In 1884 the Democrats set aside their old and tried leaders and nominated him for President. All they wanted was a man who could be elected, and his enor- mous plurality for Governor in 1882 caused them to believe that he would be a sure winner. As a matter of fact he won by a scratch, carrying New York by a plurality of only eleven hundred and forty-nine, thereby destination. He was much given to making epigrams. His first one to become popular was, "Public office is a public trust." He never said it that way. A skilful scribe took one of Cleveland's Jong-involved sentences containing the idea and the words above set out, but not the foregoing collo- out cation, and by leaving some here and some there pre- sented as the finished product the epigram which aided Mr. Cleveland very much all his days. The idea was sound and the verbiage was catchy, but the fact an- nounced was not new. No doubt it was used by the first honest man who ever spoke on the subject. The con- in this trary has been expressed wise: "A public office is a private snap!" Somebody declared that certain other men thought that. His most exquisite phrase, and entirely original, so far I was as know, "Innocuous desuetude," still frequently quoted and perhaps to he quoted as long as our vernacu- lar is spoken by the children of men. "The power of pelf" is strong, but does not measure to tip the two first mentioned.

Another of his famous mots is, "It is a condition which confronts us -not a theory." President Cleveland was an exceedingly painstaking and industrious man. This illustration ft-ll under my personal observation: Senators Vest and Cock re 11 and myself were pressing the claims of one of my constituents for an important cilice, and thought we had about succeeded. So one morning we went to the White IIou.su Lo clinch the mutter. To our surprise the President said, "There are serious charges against your man I" Senator Vest inquired: "What are they? Who filal them, and when?" Where- into about one o'clock this morning i went my ottice and on table an anonymous protest against the found my ^ serious appointment of your candidate, making charges as evidence of the truth of against him and attaching the of from charges about fifty pages legal cap excerpts court records. I sat down and read all of it before I went to bed!" Think of such conscientious labor by a President of the United States at that unseemly hpurl While millions of his constituents slept he was toiling onward in the referred to. night. We borrowed the papers He had but he read them not only read them, had^ carefully which struck enough to mark certain passages him forcibly and had in a few instances indicated his opinions on the margin I labor It required some time and much to disprove the charges so as to induce him to change his mind and make the appointment -which he finally did. It is apropos to add that our candidate was recommended for the place by nearly every prominent man in Missouri. I set forth the foregoing incident for two purposes: First, to illustrate Mr. Cleveland's method of work; sec- ond, to disabuse the minds of sundry folks of an obsession that public men in "Washington spend their days and nights in having a good time merely that and nothing more. The Vice-Prcsident elected with Mr. Cleveland was Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illinois. He was what is called "a Democratic war-horse." He was certainly a Demo- crat without guile and without the shadow of turning. Mugwumps and Independents doted on Cleveland while they looked askance at Stevenson, but as they could not vote for the former without also voting for the latter, in order to frc.t tlin fnrmnr flirv swnllnwprl t-lip t-iVL-pt- m^ln'rio Hall, when his adminis- Squeers's "Dotheboys spouse dose of treacle tered to them their morning and brimstone. Stevenson was born and bred in Kentucky, looked, as all the talked, and acted one, possessed distinguishing characteristics of the proud, brave race from which he at or from to use sprang. He graduated graduated or, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge's formula, he "was gradu- ated from" Center College Jit Danville, of which institu-

tion the renowned Dr. Robert J. Brcckenriclgc, one-third one-third and one-third was preacher, scholar, politician, Stevenson's classmates were Mr. president. Among Jus- tice John Marshall Harlan, Senator George Graham Vest, of Missouri, Senator Joseph C. S. Blackburn, of Ken- P. tucky, Col. William C. Brcckcnridgc, and Col. Robert a brilliant coterie of students J. Breckenridge certainly in one small college. Doctor Breckenridge was at first a lawyer. Thomas F. Marshall, most brilliant of mortals, said: "Dick Mcnifcc drove me to the bottle and Cousin Bob Breckenridge to the pulpit, and I have stuck to my than has to job closer Bob his," which was the literal truth. Doctor Breckenridge was temporary chairman of the convention which nominated Lincoln and Johnson. General Stevenson was a successful and resourceful

lawyer. Like most country lawyers, he practised politics about as much as he practised his profession his pro- fession for profit, politics for sheer joy. Me was one of the most popular campaigners in the land, and was the delight of the mulmwUr. Stevenson always spoke right out in meeting and did not mimx: his words. One thing that commended him to his audiences was his handsome presence. Tall, .slender, civet, graceful, well knit, lean of flank, he always reminded me of a Kentucky race-horse. His information was wide and He had made tour r IUL v^uiigii.ao, winning two out of four. * . term he was thei During Cleveland's first Assistant Post- of the master-General, who had charge appointment of He out and postmasters. flung Republicans put Demo- crats in with such expedition that those -who loved him not dubbed him "The Headsman" or 'The Axman." Hence the feud betwixt him and the civil-service reform- a bad man ers. The)' regarded him as from Bitter Creek, but he was the idol of hoi polloi. They loved him for the enemies he had made. They -would much rather have had him in the White House than Grover Cleveland, and looked forward eagerly to a time when he would reside in coveted mansion, that garish but greatly He and President Cleveland were not at all chummy. and Quite the contrary. The heir-apparent the king are the is rarely close friends. Practically same true with Presidents and Vice-Presidents. This situation grows out of the nature of things. "Watchful waiting" for a dead man's shoes is a gruesome occupation. General Stevenson presided over the Senate with grace, dignity, and impartiality. Being a first-class raconteur, he was a prime favorite with the Senators.

HARKIS, OF TENNESSEE

When I first entered the House of Representatives, cue of the ablest, and certainly the most picturesque man in the Senate was ex-Governor Isham Green Harris, of Ten- nessee. In many ways he was the Democratic leader of that body. More than any other one man, he took the state of Tennessee into the Confederacy. He was, per- haps, the ablest of the war governors in the Confederacy, at any rate. in ana held, six hundred and entire war, camp ntty to the thousand dollars belonging public-school fund of even carried it with him Tennessee. He into Mexico brief after the had during his expatriation Confederacy but he restored dollar of it to the collapsed, finally every officials. proper He and the celebrated "Parson" Brownlow were at The who was a mili- loggerheads, politically. "Parson," tant Christian, was Governor of the "Old Volunteer State" during the days of "Reconstruction," and after- ward was United States Senator. While the "Parson "was Governor, the state Legislature resolution and the Governor passed a authorizing directing to offer a reward of five thousand dollars for the arrest and delivery of Governor Harris to Governor Brownlow; and accordingly Governor Brownlow issued his procla- mation, accusing Harris of treason and other high crimes and misdemeanors. It was a bitter document, and con- tained this dcscriplio personcc of Governor Harris; "This culprit, Harris, is about five iVc-i: ten inches high, weighs about one hundred and forty-live pounds, and is about fifty-five years of age. His complexion is sallow his eyes arc dark and penetrating- -a perfect index to the heart of a traitor with tin: .scowl and frown of a demon resting on his brow. The study of mischief, and the practice of ciime, have brought upon him premature baldness and gr;iy beard. With hra/eii-facctl impudence he talks loudly and boasringly about tin; overthrow of the Yankee army, and entertains no doubt but the South will achieve her independence. He chews tobacco rapidly and is inordinately fond of liquor. In his moral struct- ure he is an unscrupulous in;m su-epcil to ihe nose and chin in personal and political profligacy- now about lost or and holds of Mississippi, Alabama, George, in female with the sheep-faced of society, alleging modesty a vir- it is not a wholesome state of tuous man that pub]j c that forbids an sentiment, or of taste, indiscriminate of married men and women. If mixing together capt- must be delivered to me ured, the fugitive alive, to the be here, upon the end that justice may done^iim theater of his former villainous deeds." that severe Now, anybody reading arraignment would that if the naturally conclude "Fighting Parson," i n hj s had ever his clutches capacity as Governor, got on Gov- have inflicted some ernor Harris, he would awful punish- but the son ment on himperhaps death; of Governor B. writes Brownlow, Col. John Brownlow, to me the following account of what really happened: "In 1866, Neill S. Brown, who was elected Governor under as a Whig, in 184.7, and later, Taylor's administra- to tion, was Minister to Russia, came my father (Governor a letter from Harris to Browniow) with him, Brown. It to home. read: 'I wish to return my My family need of ihe me; 1 wish to resume the practice law, but 1 would a not feel it safe to cln NO without pledge of protection from the President of tin- United States or the Governor die of Tennessee. I wuuld ratlu-r in exile than ask or receive a favor at tlu- hands of Andrew Johnson. I am willing to ask it of Governor Brownlow, confident that he will do whatever he pimnises to do.' "When my father rr;id this Idler, he s;ml: 'Tell Harris h:is it-leased to come home. Johnson many men as took in the reprehensible for the pun iln-y war as Harris, without Harris's good t|ii;iliiirs. IK- shall not be arrested if I can for the I if prevent it, and purpose will, necessary, turn states' rights advor.itr.' tection. "He replied, 'I have already taken them. I have seen Glascock, the U. S. Marshal for Middle Tennessee, an old Whig friend of mine, and he pledges me he will not interfere with you. More important than that, I have seen Gen. George H. Thomas, the commander of this he department, and promises me he will not interfere with or arrest you.' _ '"But/ said Harris, 'what about the state's attorney in west in my district Tennessee ?' "My father replied: *I have attended to that. After the quarrel between Jackson and Calhoim over nullifica- tion, the Legislature of Tennessee, under Jackson's in- a law that spiration, passed rebellion against the govern- ment of the United States was treason to the state, and providing drastic penalties for the same. After seces- sion our Confederate Legislature repealed that law, but the Republican Legislature and the government ;it Wash- ington did not recognize the legality of anything done by the Rebel Legislatures.' "Harris referred to that, law that the state attorney under it might have him presented to the grand jury and indicted.

"The Governor replied: 'I have attended to that. I appointed the state attorney to his oflkv. Ife is my friend. I have written him not to interfere with you, and I am sure he will not.' "Harris replied: 'Governor Brownlow, you have taken every possible means for my proirciion. I shall go home to resume my law practice feeling assured of not being interfered with.'"

STORY OF TIIH STII.I. as any man that ever lived," tells this refreshing and and Gen. characteristic story of the Senator Joe Shelby, of Missouri: "During the second term of President Cleveland a visitor came to the Democratic side of the Senate Chamber and asked the watchman at that door to call out Senator Harris, of Tennessee, saying: "'It will not he necessary for me to send in my card, as I am an old friend of Senator Harris.' "The doorkeeper delivered the message, and Senator Harris soon came out into the dimly lighted corridor. As soon as he appeared the visitor grasped his hand, saying: "'Governor Harris, I am mighty glad to see you.' '"I am glad to greet you, sir,' said Senator Harris, hesitatingly, and intently peering at the caller. '"Governor, you don't seem to remember me/ said the visitor, adding, 'and I am an old friend of yours,' "'I am very sorry, sir/ replied Senator Harris, 'but it is my misfortune that I cannot remember the faces of all of my friends, although I wish that I could do so/ "'Of course I understand that, Senator,' answered the visitor, 'for it would be impossible for you to remember the face of one man in five hundred or in a thousand of those to whom your name and face are perfectly familiar, but I supposed that, you would remember me, for we were once partners in business.' "The Tennessee Senator, who became irritable and irascible in his latter years, tartly replied: "'My memory and eyesight may not be as good as formerly, but I'll be damned if I could forget any man that ever was my partner in business,' '"Why, Governor Harris,' said the visitor, earnestly, r "I can easilj prove that we were in business together.

r Ynn me i/ no lohnmori f\\ rrtn Kiioniopt> IM i f ct-ill n /s ii'/it-u ( Tennessee statesman. 1 the now enraged was never in business of which I was ashamed of engaged any or which I am now ashamed. What do you mean?* "Maintaining composure and confident suavity, the

visitor then said: "'You remember, Governor, do you not, that when General Lee surrendered, in 1865, many of us old Con- federates deemed it prudent to expatriate ourselves?' 1 '"Yes, I remember that, replied the Tenncssean, show- interest in his caller. ing renewed "'Well, at that time Gen. Sterling Price, you, and I happened to meet at a dirty, greasy little hotel at Cor- dova, Mexico. We all were low-spirited, nor. certain that we might ever again see our wives and children. There was no bar, nor any visible means of reviving our droop- and the ing spirits with libatory spirits, situation was desperate. I told you and General Price that I had worked in a distillery in Missouri, and that if I could get a copper still I could make all of the pineapple brandy that we needed. "'You and General Price furnished the money, giving me a third interest in ihc business, and I proceeded to produce all of the brandy that: we needed.' (<< Joe Shelby, by Jove!' exclaimed Senator Harris, as he heartily grasped the hand of his caller, and further said: '"Sure enough, we were partners in business, and I am not ashamed of that business, either. I beg your pardon, Joe, for not remembering you. Now tell me, Joe, if there is anything that 1 can do for you?' "Gen. Joe Shelby told Senator Harris that President- Cleveland had selected him for the office of United States Marshal for Missouri, and added: drink a little, but never to excess/ 1 "'I drink a little, too, replied Senator Harris, 'and I don't care a continental if you do the same as I do in " shall be that regard. Your nomination confirmed.' Colonel Brownlow further informs me that Gen. Joe Shelby was confirmed, and that he held that office during the remainder of his days, and that this story of those to other days gone by has not been given any maker of the leaves of history. CHAPTER X

Reed and Crisp,

THERE have been a few striking rivalries in American 1 the most memorable politics, being Jefferson and Hamilton, Jackson and Clay, Lincoln and Douglas, Blainc and Conkling. There can be no question that the current of our history was largely influenced by these lifelong to which was added the clement of political rivalries, intense personal hate, except in the case of Lincoln and Douglas, who were friends always from the day when sworn in they, as mere boys, were together as members of the Illinois legislature. This friendship was the cause of an act much commented on at the time the gracious conduct of Douglas at Lincoln's first inauguration. Lin- coln, who was an awkward man, was bothered as to how to dispose of his hat. Douglas gracefully stepped for- ward and held the silk tile of his successful rival while he delivered his inaugural address. No human power could have induced Hamilton, Clay, or Conkling to ren- der such kindly service: to their rivals. In the rivalries just mentioned the whole nation was the theater and the Presidency was the glittering and v rnvft-pd nriv/- fnr wntrli l-lv'\r n\i}t-t*vii>t\ Ul U11CC. 1 "- WL.H-MH-" nwnni'W iwi v..v. ufv,M>vv,iLIl lip UC~ comes, through immemorial usage, ipso facto minority leader. Consequently, during both of Crisp's terms in the chair, Reed was minority leader, as was Crisp dur- ing his last term in the House. These two men were commonly pitted against each other in public estimation, and, though of very different characteristics and mental endowments, they were not unequally matched. While the House of the Fifty-third Congress was in- harmonious, quarrelsome, and factional considered as to its personnel it was a great body. Toward its close the venerable Jehu Baker, of Illinois, whose chief distinction was that he defeated Col. William R. Morrison for a seat in the House, told me that he had served in the House off and on mostly off 'for a quarter of a century, in- cluding the famous Forty-fourth Congress, which was exploited widely as containing all the talents, and that in his judgment the House of the Fifty-third Congress possessed the highest average ability of all the Houses in which he had sat, Mr. Speaker Charles Frederick Crisp, of Georgia, was the most influential personage in that House in whose membership were so many men distinguished then or thereafter. Among them were four men destined to be candidates for the Presidency Thomas Brackett Reed, Richard Parks Bland, William Jennings Bryan, and myself, and a future Vice-President, James Schoolcraft Sherman. Side by side with us sat sixteen generals of the Civil War, ranging from Joseph Wheeler, a Confed- erate lieutenant-general, to brevet brigadiers. The military element was numerous and capable. Colonels, lieutenant-colonels, majors, captains, lieutenants, ser- geants, corporals, and privates were thick as autumnal leaves. Ex-Governors and Governors-to-be, future Cabi- brood ot umteu states large emoryo senators, college and professors, judges of every degree, past presidents and or future, editors, lawyers, great small, two preachers, and one ex-United States one poet, Senator, answered the Greek ever in roll-call. The only Congress Miller of Wisconsin was a member. His mother and father were battle in both killed in the which Markos JJozznris went to and to immortal his heroic death glory. An American Millers the couple the picked baby orphan up on the not his bloody field, and, knowing name, gave him their own and adopted him as their son. David Gardner son of President was Tyler, John Tyler, conspicuous. sons He is one of three presidential to serve in the House, the other two being Scott Harrison, son of President William Henry Harrison and father of Gen. Benjamin Harrison, and John Quincy Adams, who served in the Senate before he was President and in the House for seventeen and one-half years after he; left the White House, dying with harness on his back as no doubt ho die. preferred to Mr. Speaker Crisp was of right: head of the House. Mis vast influence grew out of his strong personality, coupled with the tremendous and abnormal powers then centered in the hands of the Speaker. At that time the Speaker appointed the committees, which enabled him not only to largely shape legislation, htu to retard or promote the careers of members, except the caix-ers of the strongest, who could not be kcpr down. His position ;is e.v-ojjicio chairman of the Committee on Rules of live members, two Democrat's and two Rcpublicims, made him practi- cally the whole- Commitu-i: on Rules and gave him a tremendous leverage on tin- business of tin- I louse. Mr. Speaker Crisp was not a brilliant man. He was

u !..! i 1. ,1 -i ...I..KI. ,,:..: i i i dark head, clear gray eyes, dark complexion, mustache, a man. sparse dark hair altogether good-looking His father and mother were actors and he was born in England while they were residing there temporarily which ren- as dered him eligible to the Presidency though born in America, as his parents were Americans. He was a youthful soldier in the Confederate army and had a good record in that regard. He was a success- ful lawyer and had long been a nisi prius judge. He was nominated for Speaker in the Fifty-third Con- he achieved the gress without opposition, but nomina- tion for the Speakership in the Fifty-second Congress, after a long and most bitter fight. It was a great field- Charles Frederick Crisp, of Georgia; Roger Q. Mills, of Texas, subsequently a United States Senator; Benton McMillan, of Tennessee, afterward Governor of his state as well as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipo- tentiary to Peru; William M. Springer, of Illinois, sub- sequently a judge in the Indian Territory; Judge William S. Holman, "the great objector," universally called "Watch-Dog of the Treasury"; and Col. William Henry Hatch, of Missouri, the man who breathed the breath of life into the nostrils of the nascent Committee on Agriculture. As soon as it was ascertained that the Democrats had elected a majority of the House of the Fifty-second Con- gress, the country at large assumed that Roger Q. Mills Would be Speaker thereof. For years he had been to the fore in Congress. He was a crack debater, a favorite of Speaker Carlisle, the personification of Tariff Reform, and had been chairman of the great Committee on Ways and Means, fastening his name on "The Mills Tariff 1 Bill/ which was indorsed a by" national Democratic r*rM-,M,,n + ; n T-T,, ,,. C.,_ or Murat of the army tarm-rctormers. bate to say that to the most he was, next Carlisle, popular man in America and file of Democrats. with the rank On the other hand, Crisp was not widely known. His fellow-Representatives and other observing folks in Wash- had a and considered ington high opinion^of Crisp, him of It a rising man great ability. was a long-drawn-out From the the ones felt fight. beginning, knowing that the contest was betwixt Mills and Crisp. With all his and Mills labored popularity prominence, under certain handicaps. He was credited with a too peppery temper; was accounted as too as by some he extreme a tariff reformer, and was charged by the out-and-out Frcc-Sil- ventes with having gone out of his way in the Ohio campaign of 1890 to make a single gold standard speech. in the House rested Crisp's strength on the game fight he had made against the Reed rules, his splendid handling of election cases, and his reputation for moderateness, level-headedncss, and unfailing good temper. One by one the candidates dropped out until only Crisp, Mills, and Springer were left. Springer, with a small bunch of fol- lowers, held the balance of power. On the night before the finish Springer sent word to Crisp that he and his faithful band would go in a body to Crisp provided he would make Springer chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and also make William Jennings Bryan, a first-termer from Nebraska, a member thereof. Crisp declined, but next morning on tin- first ballot ho came so near defeat that hi: sent a trusted friend to Springer, and accepted his proposition. Many persons have been puzzled to understand why Bryan, a new and unknown member, was placed on Ways and Means, to the exclu- sion of able old members. The fon-going is an expkmu- i i i brains." I have had and a large head full of no reason He had no to change that first impression. wit, no fancy, not his no eloquence. He did adorn speeches with anec- classic or dote, poetic quotation, allusion, historic illus- he delivered a tration. Nevertheless, invariably strong address. His style of speaking was what might not be inaptly called the "judicial," acquired by a long occu- pancy of the bench. He was endowed with abundant had faith in physical courage and men implicit his in- after tegrity and common sense, which, all, is the best sort of sense. Like most men, he had a temper of his own. I never saw him thoroughly angered on but three occasions once when Mr, Reed would not come to order till the sergeant-at-arms was commanded to arrest him, once when Mr. Boutelle, of Maine, became obstreperous on the Hawaiian question and was about to precipitate a riot> and again when Col. John T. Heard, of Missouri, and Col. William C. P. Breckenridge, of Kentucky, had their celebrated and spectacular row in the House. Speaker Crisp demonstrated his patriotic sense of duty oy declining a United States Senatorship for an unex- pired term when tendered him by the Governor of Georgia. It was certainly a tempting offer the realization of his ambition 'but because he thought that he could be of more service to his party and his country in the Speaker's chair, with self-abnegation, rare among men, he refused the exalted honor which action doubled his influence in the House. It is pleasant to remember that after his career as Speaker ended he was nominated by the Georgia Democrats for a full term in the Senate, a nomination being equivalent to an election, but it is sad to relate that he died before he could take his sent. was while a very ciry memoer delivering a very dry speech of on a very dry question personal privilege. I said, "Mr. Speaker, how did that man break into Congress?" first look over a He replied, "When you new House you' wonder how half of them got there, but after you come well to know the members you will find that, barring a few accidental members, they are strong in specialties" so it to a saying wise that deserves rank with King Solo- mon's Proverbs or Lord Bacon's Wisdom of the Ancients. of the is Speaker Crisp's si/ing up Mouse the reverse of the estimate of the Senate by the witty Senator Ncsmitli, of Oregon. When he returned home for his first vacation one of his constituents asked him what he thought of the Senate. Nesmith replied, "The first month I was there

I wondered how I ever broke in, and ever since I have been wondering how the rest of them broke inl" While Speaker Crisp did not make many epigrams, here is one of his coinage which is a gem. Speaking of Speaker Reed, he said: "The unquestioning loyalty of the Republicans to Reed reminds me of the I lindu, who, kneeling in prayer before his idol, consoles himself with the idea that he

knows his God is ugly and thinks he i.s grout." score of Fora years there was a masterful, scintillating aurora-borealis statesman, known as "the Man from Maine," who strove with marvelous dexterity for the glittering pri/e of the Presidency, who kepi the country in a turmoil for nearly a generation with his ambition, and who finally went to his grave cut oil' before his time, bitterly disappointed, if not broken-hearted. A more brilliant man never figured in American politics than James Gillespic Hlaint:. His friends are fond of comparing him to Henry Clay, and indeed the two careers are filled with startling parallels.

i/.o \\< r , K.n'M .n I.,,,K, > I,,,., J Presidents have been fame long after half the forgotten. historical work In my judgment it is the best ever written by an American. There was another "Man from Maine," a giant, intel- as lectually and physically, ambitious Lucifer, with his the chair covetous eyes constantly fixed on of Washing- ton and the mantle of Jefferson, straining every nerve to become Chief Magistrate of rhe Republic, and doomed by his geographical habitat to follow "the Plumed Knight" to the tomb, full of chagrin and bitter thoughts. Intellectually, Thomas Brackett Reed, like another King Saul, towered head and shoulders above his Repub- lican competitors. These two "Men from Maine" did not love each other with the fervor of Jonathan and David or of Damon and Pythias. Elaine managed men by what the French call in his finesse. Reed was direct methods, and accomplished his ends by main strength. Blaine was a money-maker; Reed was not blest with much of this world's goods. Blaine was a Pennsylvanian; Reed was the typical down- caster. Elaine's influence was based on personal mag- netismj Reed appealed to the reason, the prejudices, and the risibilities of mankind.

Blaine entered politics from the field of journalism; Re.ed came fresh from the triumphs of the bar. People loved Blaine for his charm of manner; they admired Reed for his brain power. Both were college-bred men, both served in the state Legislature, both became Speaker, both were defeated candidates for the Presidency, both were Republicans, though if the secret workings of their lives were laid bare it would probably be ascertained that Reed was the more loyal party man. Both, how- ever, had tremendous influence in shaping the politics of their oartv. the two most illustrious men ever sent larity between Tree State" to the national councils. by "the Pine How their enmity arose I know not. Certainly it been The in would could not have rivalry. disparity age that. Whether their mutual dislike in seem to preclude either from that office any way hindered securing high chief which they agreed in considering the end of man, which will find out this side js one of those things nobody of the great Judgment Day. It is hardly possible that it did, for, notwithstanding Reed's hatred, Blaine always had the Maine delegation at his back as as he was solidly and enthusiastically long and Blaine died before Reed a presidential candidate, became a presidential possibility. Reed, through the irony of fate, was one of the pall- bearers at Blaine's funeral. What Blaine thought of that if he thinks at all amid his present environments would make what Horace Grceley would have called "very interesting reading." I like fighters and to borrow the language of Sut Lovingood, Reed was a fighter from the headwaters of Bitter Creek. While in some respects he was not my ideal of a man, yet the unvarnished truth is that when he was not posing for political cflcct he was a pleasant and companionable gentleman. He was particularly for- bearing toward young members, \vluch was decidedly to his credit. In personal appearance Mr. Reed was unique -a stu- pendous figure- -indeed Hrolulin^nagian a fact which contributed to his celebrity and to his commanding influence in the House. He was one of the biggest men I have ever seen- -big all over, t have seen taller per- sonsfor instance, Cyrus A. Sullaway, of New Hamp- ie i < - these made such an 720; but none of impression of big- ness as Mr. Reed. He stood 6 feet 3 inches in his stock- 12 and almost ings, wore a No. shoe, weighed 300 asked avoirdupois though once, upon being his weight, "No he replied, humorously: gentleman ever weighed over two hundred." He had the largest human face I ever saw. Senator John Tyler Morgan, of Alabama, dubbed him "the Great White Czar," a nickname that stuck and gave the cartoonists a valuable hint, which they worked for all it was worth. But Mr. Reed did not need Senator Morgan's characterization and the labors of the cartoon- ist to make him a marked man in any crowd. He was one of the few men in public life at whom strangers on the street turned to stare. He had a massive two-story head, thatched with thin, fiossy, flaxen hair, a scant mustache, and a lily-white complexion. This perfect blond possessed a pair of large, brilliant, black eyes, which sparkled with humor and flashed with fire, as the spirit moved. He had a clear, strong, resonant voice, with a distinctive down-east twang, which filled the great hall of the House and could be heard above any uproar. He was awkward in walking. He said that his forebears were seafaring folks, and certainly there was something in his gait suggestive of the waves and the billows. On his feet in the full tide of speech, with his vast bulk and vibrant tones, he literally compelled attention, and drove home his propositions with the force of a pile-driver. He was the best short-speech maker I ever s;\w or heard. He rarely spoke at length, and he did not believe that anybody else should do so. He gene-rally stopped in five, ten, or fifteen minutes. His speeches were strong in proportion to their shortness. That sounds at first critic. His short an unfriendly speeches were of dynamic and it is not in the constitution of man to quality digest at too much mental dynamite one time. The most peculiar thing about his spcechmaking was that he did not want his wife to hear him, and the tradi-

tion is that she never heard him hut once, and on that occasion she slipped in on him unawares. for I am indebted to him kindness, promotion, instruc-

tion, and commendation. Though no two men ever sat together in the House who differed more radically in he and I to politics than I, am proud have counted him among my friends. Our friendship came about accidentally. It was for some time merely a speaking acquaintance. One even- after ing, however, the lamps were lighted, a member made some remarks derogatory to Oklahoma which were exceedingly disagreeable to me, as I was, and am, very fond of Oklahoma and her people. I replied, in the first offhand speech I ever made in the House. I was expand- ing on my favorite theme of how rich the land is west of the Mississippi. I happened to look over on the Repub- lican side and observed that Mr. Reed was enjoying my extravaganza, his huge face .shining like a harvest moon, which moved inc to say; "When Mr. Speaker Thomas B. Reed, of Maine, first: traveled through that part of the country and observed the fatness of the land, be threw up his hands in astonishment ;md exclaimed: 'My God 1 this soil is so rich that, if they had it in New England, they would sell it by the peck for scedl'" He joined heartily in the explosion of laughter which followed. The next morning he came rolling past: my desk and said, "Young man, that: was a charming speech you made last night!" Of course I was greatly pleased, for , stock of knowledge and has benefited me ever since. had Some months after the Democrats gone to pieces on the Silver I was passing Mr. Reed's question, ^ desk, when he asked me how I was succeeding in matters of I was in the sad patronage. I told him that condition of

Old Mother Hubbarcl Who went to the cupboard To get her poor doggie a bone. But when she got there The cupboard was bare And so the poor doggie got none.

He said, "That will do you no harm. The only Presi- dent I could ever get any patronage from was General Arthur, but, nevertheless, I have clone very well." I replied, "Notwithstanding the President's hostility to the Silver Democrats, if what I heard about him touching the tariff is true, he deserves well of the country." "What did you hear?" queried Mr. Reed. "I heard," answered I, "that after he had prepared his tariff message, December, 1887, he called into counsel the Democratic leaders and, having read it to them, invited their sug- gestions. They one and all tried to dissuade him from sending it to Congress, stating that, as the Senate was Republican, his ideas would not be enacted into law; that if he did not send it his re-election was certain, but if he did send it in his success would be jeopardized. He replied: "The message is right; the people are suffering from an unnecessary burden of taxation; the huge sur- plus should be reduced. I am determined to send it to Congress and let the election take care of itself." "That is all a fairy-tale," drawled Mr. Reed. "There isn't a scintilla of truth in it." "What is the truth?" of bills numerous vetoes pension and other unwise actions, had alienated the Democrats of the North, and he sent to that Free Trade message Congress on a cold collar as

a bid for Southern and Western delegates to the nominat- 1" Thus are set forth two ing convention conflicting theories touching that famous message. The reader can take his choice. Subsequent events throw some light on the two irreconcilable theories. To the St. Louis Convention of 1888, Senator Arthur Pue Gorman, of Maryland, who was most decidedly not a. tariff reformer, carried a platform with a tariff plank indorsed by Presi- dent Cleveland, which was a distinct retreat from the December message, but neither the committee on plat- the convention form nor would accept it, and adopted a tariff plank holding Mr, Cleveland to the advanced taken in his position December message, capping it by an indorsement of the Mills Tariff bill, considered a radical measure. On that platform Mr. Cleveland went to defeat. When a man hasn't ingenuity enough to invent a witti- cism or bit of humor himself, and hasn't heart enough to enjoy it when originated by others, be writes the wit or humorist down as a fool. That is the dullard's argu- ment against mental brilliancy. It would require vast audacity to deny to Mr. Reed brightness and strength of mind, and yet there was noth- ing on earth that he would not jest about. He did not spare even his own personal appearance. One evening he was dining at a swell Washington restau- rant. A newspaper correspondent, desiring to see him on important: business, peered into the dining-room, but did not rccogni/c him. The landlord went in and brought Mr. Reed out, whereupon the scribe said: "I saw you ncvcl lei now!" t . Reed his immense The qualities which gave power in readiness at and his the House were his repartee biting sarcasm. Tom Marshall described old Ben Hardin as a butcher- knife whetted on a brickbat. Reed was a sort of combination rasp, Damascus blade, and bludgeon. Metaphorically speaking, sometimes he rubbed the skin off, sometimes he cut to the bone, and a skull as it sometimes he crushed in though were an egg- shell. a as One day he was making speech and, usual, flaying the Democrats, when a handsome and highly respectable in member of six years' service Congress, without rising from his seat, jogged bis memory about something he did when Speaker. Reed paused long enough to attract the attention of everybody, and then, with his most exasperating nasal twang, said: "Yesterday I had a dis- cussion with Mr. Wilson, the head of the House Demo- crats, and to-day, however unpleasant it may be, I sup- pose I will be compelled to have a discussion with the tail of the Democratic party." Of course the House roared. It couldn't help itself. Such a shot at point-blank range would place any man in Christendom hors de combat temporarily at least, On another occasion, while in the full tide of eloquence, Mr. Reed was interrupted by the redoubtable Amos Cummings, of New York. Reed looked at him in a fatherly sort of way for a moment, and then, with mock pathos, asked: "Now, Amos, must you, must you really get your name into my speech must you?" The theatri- cal pose and injured expression set the House in a broad grin, at the expense of the bravest of the Tammany Warner made a furious onslaught upon the Republicans and Reed in Reed in general particular. began his an- swer by saying, in a sneering tone; "I cannot hope to the volume of voice of the equal gentleman from New York. That is only equaled by the volume of what he does not know." When Senator Wolcott, of Colorado, in his fracas with Carey of Wyoming, dramatically exclaimed, "It is waste of lather to shave an ass/' it set people to disputing what was the most caustic thing ever said by one Congressman of another. The pundits were divided in opinion be- tween Wolcott's jab at Carey and Reed's characteriza- tion of John A. Pickler, of South Dakota. When Reed first saw Pickler perform, so the story goes, he said, not on the floor of the House, as commonly reported, but in private, to a personal friend: "I have read and heard much of the wild ass's colt of the desert, but I never had clear of any conception what: manner of animal it really was till I saw Pickler in action." The chances arc that if Pickler had remained in Con- gress a hundred years, every time ho began prancing around some old member would tell (hat .story to a new one, and thus it would descend from generation to gen- eration as a part of the unwritten history of the House. One day when a discussion on pensions was dragging its slow length along, Mr. Reed, who was the very pict- ure of health, amused a coterie of friends in the cloak- room by giving a reason why he should have a pension. It ran something as follows: "I had never been able to make more than five hundred dollars or six hundred dol- lars a said year," he, with a chuckle, "till I was appointed acting Assistant Paymaster of the United Slates Navy at a salary of fourteen hundred dollars, with board, lodg- me. good conscience, to compensate There was no love lost between Reed and President as Benjamin Harrison. They spoke they passed by, but that's about all the communication they held with each other. It was utterly impossible that there should be any kindred feeling between two such men. Harrison was cold as "Greenland's icy mountains," always on his himself on his p's and q's, and plumed immensely blue blood. Reed was hot-blooded for a New-Englander, careless of the minor details of ceremonials, a self-made man who worshiped his Maker. Along in the sultry days of August, 1894, when any tariff legislation seemed hopeless and when the Demo- cratic party resembled a dissolving view more than any- thing else. Reed came to where several free-traders were sitting, and began chaffing them unmercifully about the condition of affairs. After a while some one said: "Mr. Reed, how do you like the last Republican presidential ticket gotten up by the newspapers?" He lazily asked, "What is it?" His friend replied, "Bob Lincoln and Fred Grant." "Oh, the deuce!" he blurted out. "If they would only add Baby McKee to it, the thing would be perfect," and away he went, like a great three-decker in a surging sea. In the greenback year in Maine he escaped defeat by only one hundred and fifteen majority. When he went to supper he thought he was defeated. When he returned to headquarters after supper his followers set up a mighty shout. Not having heard of his election, he said to them> "You are making a tremendous fuss over the corpse." In relating that incident in his life, he naively remarked: "The country came near losing the invaluable services of a great statesman on that occasion." TU a ,.,-* ^, U !, ..J- :., *l, T.T l._ 1 'll^J ,. old wise; There was an cliap from one of the Central Western states who possessed a double ambition he wanted to make his constituents believe that he was the to his always in House attending duties, while at the same time he desired to enjoy the gaieties and frivolities of

the finest capital in the world. So he hit on this some- what ingenious scheme of killing two birds with one stone. When a member arose to deliver the first remarks of the day that old man would prance down the big aisle, rise to a of and ask the what bill question information, Speaker or resolution was up. The Speaker would tell him, which in The Record for got his name Congressional that day. Then away he would go, and nobody would see him again until the next day; but if anybody denied he was present he could prove it by the record. He carried his pitcher to the fountain, however, once too often. Of all created a things, Reed hated hypocrite most. Nothing gave him more exquisite pleasure than to unmask and fricassee one. So when he began his first speech, the old pretender arose and asked the Speaker what was up, as usual. Reed did not wait for the Speaker to answer, but answered himself, and then said; "Now, Mr. Speaker, having embedded in that fly the liquid amber of my eloquence, I will pro- ceed with my remarks I" amid such a shout of laughter as to endanger the glass roof. Next year when there was a Congressional nominating convention in that old fellow's district, some hayseed delegate climbed on to a bench and bellowed: "Mr. Cheennan, we don't want to send any man to Congress who has been embedded in Tom Reed's ambcerl" which was the end of our ancient and ingenious friend from the Central West. He was a skilful and fertile maker of epigrams and mots. One of the most celebrated is this: "A statesman --,- become a familiar quotation. But the sequel is less well known. The correspondent who asked the question tele- the graphed as soon as he received answer, "Why don't a statesman Mr. Reed you die and become ?"^ handed me the telegram and said: "Here is my answer: No. Fame is the last infirmity of noble minds!" "In I Senator Lodge also says: 1884 recall coming across him in State Street just after the nomination of Mr. Blaine. The break in the Republican party had begun and I asked Mr. Reed what he thought of the out- 1 look. 'Well, he said, 'it is a great comfort to think that the wicked politicians were not allowed to pick the candidate and that the nomination was made by the people. The politicians would have been guided only by a base desire to win!" The Senator also records these two mots: When they were drawing scats, the Senator suggested that it was evident they would get poor seats, "Yes," said Reed, "the great trouble with this system is that it is so dia- bolically fairl" The Senator records that on another occasion Mr. Reed said, with reference to election cases: "The House never divides on strictly partizan lines except when acting judicially." According to my way of thinking, one of his most exquisite epigrams was this: "All the wisdom of the world consists of shouting with the majority," and it was one of his most sarcastic. One of his mots, familiar to the ears of men, is his sarcastic fling at William M. Springer, Democrat, of Illinois, of twenty years' service in the House, who rose to be chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, was a candidate for Speaker in 1891, and finally became clause of the Sherman Silver Law. purchasing Springer's affair defeated him for conduct in that re-election to the him the So he House, but gained judgcship. played even better than most of "the faring much lame ducks." What a brood of them Mr. Cleveland had on hand! The slaughter of the innocents at the election of 1894 has never been equaled since the days of King Herod. was an worker and a Springer indefatigable frequent on and thousands speaker, talking every subject filling The Record with his of pages of Congressional remarks. His speeches were crammed with useful and varied infor- mation, but after all were simply raw material handy for more skilful word artists. When I was teaching school at Louisiana, Missouri, one of my co-teachers was a bright old lady named Mrs. Hoss. One day I told her that a certain man in town carried in his mind an ama/ing number of facts. "Yes," she replied, "but what he needs most is a bolting-chest to his head" "bolting-chest:" being part of an old-time milling apparatus with which I fear my younger readers will not be familiar. I never heard Mr. Springer speak that I did not think of Mrs. I loss and her holting-chest. Reed did not have a high opinion of Springer's ability and took a malicious pleasure in worrying him. As Springer possessed no mental agility, Reed considered him easy game. One day the}' had a tilt, which ended this way. Springer exclaimed: "I'm right. J know I'm right, and I say with Henry Clay, I'd rather be ri^bt than President 1" "Hut," drawled Reed, "the trouble, with you is, you will never be eitberl" On another occasion Springer complained that Reed was "making light" of bis argument. Reed said, "If I am making light of your argument, it is more (ban you jLicmuuiaLs u as he began it, aooui me auu^ung quorum- that counting rule. It will be remembered the Demo- cratic caucus which adopted it lasted two nights. On the day between those two nights Mr. Reed came by my what are the desk and asked, "Clark, Democrats going to do to-night?" I promptly replied, "Adopt a quo- rum-counting rule!" which appeared to amuse him are very much. He said, "Young man, you egregiously who me so mistaken; the old members fought fiercely will take in the Fifty-first Congress you new members up and shake you like a bull-terrier would shake a rat." I answered, "You stay up till midnight and you will hear the news that we won." I missed the time required by two or three hours, for that caucus lasted till the wee, sma' hours of the morning, but we did adopt the quorum- counting rule. It is a matter of common knowledge that Reed hated President McKinley intensely. In 1891 they were the leading candidates for the nomination for Speaker. Reed could never forgive himself for making McKinley chair- man of iihe and Means Committee, thereby Ways " giving him the opportunity of being the Daddy of the McKin- ley bill," which at first wrought such havoc among Republicans, even defeating its author, but which sub- sequently more than any other cause elevated him to the Presidency. Reed deemed himself McKinley's supe- rior and took a crack at him whenever he got a chance. It may not be known to many, and the fact is not im- portant when known, but it is nevertheless interesting that for years the chaplains of both Mouse and Senate were blind as bats. I often wondered if it was another case of the blind lending the blind and all tumbling into the ditch together. We get there often enough, anyway. The blind chaplain of the House knows enough to prav brother in who into however, a visiting drops goes things one after the more in extenso. So, morning just begin- our war with a ning of Spain, young army chaplain House with He opened the proceedings prayer. prayed from the fall of to about everything Adam the blowing with these fervent up of the Maine, winding up ejacula- Give the House wisdom 1 Lord! tions: "O Lord! Give 11 Lord! the Senate wisdom But especially, O Give the President wisdom 111" Knowing Reed's feeling toward McKinley, I sauntered the and of him up to Speaker's stand, inquired privately to ask unanimous consent to if he would recognize me in insert the young chaplain's prayer The Congressional Record. "No," he replied, "I will not do that, but it seems to me that the young man's petition to the Lord to endow Mack with wisdom was the most appropriate heard." prayer I ever On another occasion a visiting brother closed his prayer with the request that the Lord cause Speaker Reed to rule the House according to the will of God. An irrever- ent member standing close to me remarked, sotto vocc, that that was the most preposterous petition ever pre- ferred to the throne of grace. When the war with Spain was brewing, it was openly and frequently charged in the newspapers, in private conversation, and in public .speech, that President Mc- Kinley wabbled a good dual on vhe subject. Many Senators and Representatives believed it. While the talk about his wabbling wjis flagrant, one morning a bunch of us were discussing the manor in the Speaker's lobby when Mr. Speaker Reed strolled in. lie listened to the conversation a moment and said: "In my capacity as a Representative I intend to introduce a bill appro- on nanu, anu in me miast ing, men falling every tnereof William McKinley standing firm!" close Reccl and Colonel Roosevelt were friends. Some- he was so fond of body asked the former why the latter. " is so Because,'* replied Reed, "Theodore certain that he discovered the Ten Commandments'" Gov. Samuel Walker McCall, who served twenty years in the House, half of them with Reed, of whom he was readable life very fond, has written a very of him. He evidences of Reed's dislike for gives these two President Harrison. On one occasion Reed said: "I had but two enemies in Maine; one of them Harrison pardoned out other he of the penitentiary, and the appointed Collector of Portland." the Just after Elaine resigned Secretaryship of State Charles in 1892, Reed, writing to Kairchild, of Boston, said: " Blame is out and we are face to face with a Siberian solitude. 1 don't know what will happen, but I beg to say to you, as an influential Massachusetts man, that if any ice-chest is to hold our fortunes you must not ask me to come to Massachusetts during the campaign if you send a delegation which is for the said ice-chest. Don't forget tins and find fault with me. I have spent my life taking political pills, but my powers of deglutition are, after all, limited. 13. Harrison would be dead to start with." Among the samples of Reed's wit, humor, and sarcasm which the Governor gives arc these: Once the Mouse was making an effort to secure a quorum, and, as is usuallj' done in such cases, telegrams were sent to members who were absent. One man, who was delayed by a flood on the railroad, telegraphed Reed, savinc, "Washout on line. Can't come." Reed tele- on the ot a member He called family who was very ill, his and when lie inquired about condition the member's he was out of his head wife replied that much of the time he was and did not know what talking about. "He ought the to come up to House," replied Reed. "They arc all that way up there/' When Reed was Speaker he overruled on an occasion of order made a clever a point by very Democratic member. The latter discovered that Reed, in his little called Reed's Rules book on parliamentary procedure, t had taken a different position, and, thinking to confound the Speaker, he walked in triumph to the desk, book in hand, and pointing to the passage, asked tiic Speaker to read It. After the Speaker had read it the member asked him to explain it. "Oh," replied Reed, coolly, "the book is wrong." He was bitterly opposed to our war with the Philip-

pines, and he expressed his idea of the glory of the war in a concrete case in the following fashion. One morning, when the newspapers had printed a report that our army had captured Aguinaldo's young son, Reed came to his office and found his law partner at work at his desk. Reed affected surprise and said: "What, are you working to-day? I should think you would be celebrating. 1 see by the papers that rhu American Army hits captured the infant son of Aguinaldo and at last accounts was in hot pursuit of the mother." He once heard a man warmly arguing in favor of taking the Philippines on the ground that we should take Ameri- " can freedom to them. Yes," said Reed, "canned freedom." to of in Alluding two his colleagues the House, he said : "They never open their mouths without subtracting sit His chair when he was about to down. daughter, in to save horror, gave the chair a sudden pull the cat from annihilation, and as a result Reed sat down heavily on the floor. It was a rather serious happening for a man of his size, and even a lesser man might easily have lost he took his temper. But the only notice of the matter had on his was to say, gravely, after he got feet, "Kitty, remember that it is easier to get another cat than another father," Once when he was speaking to the House a member insisted on interrupting him to ask a question. Reed a yielded, and the member asked partizan question which had very little point. Reed most effectively disposed of the matter by saying, "The gentleman from Maryland flower of is, of course, not the our intelligence, but he knows better than to ask such a question as that." During one of his campaigns he was speaking at South Berwick in his district, and he was near the end of his speech. The audience was hanging on the words of his peroration when a man came down in his seat with a crash. Such an incident would often disconcert a speaker and the "last magnificent paragraph" would be spoken with little effect, if spoken at all. Reed at once secured again the command of his audience by saying, "Well, you must at least credit me with making a knockdown argument." Very much used to be said about Washington malaria, and one day some one suggested to Reed that the term was employed often to cover the effects of too n drinking much whisky. "Washington malaria, replied Reed, "can be bought for two dollars a gallon." The Governor gives, as a specimen of Reed's speech- making, his closing remarks on the repeal of the pur- answered tized had been so often that he would not with burden his speech the proofs, and then proceeded

in this wise: "I shall simply content myself with saying that there never was a mort^opcn, straightforward discussion since the beginning of time than that by which silver was de- monetized. . . . What, then, is the pathway of duty? The unconditional repeal. That will cither give relief or not. If not, then we must try something else, and the sooner the better. ... It is such a pity that we had to waste so much time in this weary welter of talk. "We stand in a very peculiar position, we Republicans, The of to-day. representative the Democratic party President of the just chosen United States finds himself his powerless in first great recommendation to his own Were he left to their party. tender mercies the country would witness the spectacle of the President of its choice the overthrown by party charged with this country's government. What wonder, then, that he appeals to the patriotism of another party whose patriotism has never to been appealed in vain. Never, I say, in vain. The of the proudest part proud record of the Republican party has been its steadfast devotion to the cause of sound finance. When this country was tempted to pay its bonds in depreciated money, the Republican party re- sponded with loud acclaim to that noble sentiment of Genera! Hawlcy that every bond was as sacred as a soldier's It cost us hard grave. lighting and sore struggle, hut the credit of this country h.-is no superior in the world. When the same arguments heard to-day were heard fifteen years ago, sounding the praises of a depre- ciated and currency, proclaiming the glories of fiat money, the of party Abraham Lincoln marched steadily toward -) - - and fame which to those paths of prosperity were trodden under Republican rule for so many years, we shall take undimmed back with us our ancient glory, by adversity, our ancient honor unsullied by defeat." ^ That he was a constant thorn in the side of the Demo- crats is known to all the world. That he wag absolute master on the Republican side is not a matter of so much notoriety. As to the Republican contingent in the House, he was a "Triton among the minnows a giant among pygmies." No company of soldiers in the regular army was ever the more thoroughly drilled than was Republican minority of the Fifty-third Congress. There is a familiar old dic- tum: "When Simon says thumbs up it is thumbs up, and when Simon says thumbs down it is thumbs down," Time and again I have seen Mr. Reed bring every Re- publican up standing by waving his hands upward; and just as often, when they had risen inadvertently, I have seen him make them take their seats by waving his hands downward. I once heard a minister preach who knew a great deal more about theology than about English grammar. He rend a verse from the Bible, and then said: "Brethren and sisters, the whole of the Gospel is all squz up in that one little text." Mr. Reed's career in the Fifty-third Congress was "all squz up" in one remark made by Lafe Pence, the brilliant young Populist from Colorado, when he characterized him as "the mentor of the Republicans and the tormentor of the Democrats." '

In private Mr. Reed was affable and jolly. When I was introduced to him, for loss of something better to say, I remarked: "Mr. Reed, I have frequently mentioned you in my stump speeches." "Yes, no doubt," he from Maine." as "the moon-faced despot When Col. Bob White was in Washington I took out in the corridor to several "big guns" introduce them. that I had a Democratic I told Mr. Reed editor out there to meet. whom I wished him Looking at me intently, while a smile played over his countenance, he said, "Will vouch for his moral character as a Democrat?" you good, Boh a short I vouched, and enjoyed dialogue with the from Maine. gentleman His fame rests on his quorum-counting rule and upon his wit, humor, and sarcasm, samples of which I have hundreds more which I could given, and give. Jonathan Prentice Dollivcr, of Iowa, an eloquent and brilliant member of the House, and afterward of the Senate, a bosom friend and enthusiastic admirer of Reed, once told him that if he had spent his many years in the House in formulating and placing upon the statute-hooks some great measure for the country's good, instead of making sarcastic epigrams about people he disliked, he would have been Presidentl Who knows? He was opposed to the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands; he was opposed to our war with Spain; and he was so thoroughly opposed to our policy touching the Philippines th;it his conscience would not permit him to remain in public life-- -which he so much adorned. So he resigned to practise law in New York, and in the few years remaining to him amassed an ample competency, but which he did not live long lo enjoy. CHAPTER XI

The Speakcrslup.

title of "Speaker" is a palpable misnomer, if the THEword is to be used in the ordinary sense; for, most chief to emphatically, it is not his duty make speeches, but to maintain order and decorum; to conduct the busi- ness of the House, and in a general way to supervise things in that large and tumultuous assembly. He is ex- pected to deliver a short inaugural address, and a short speech at the close of each session, the only speechmaking which custom makes binding on him. Occasion may arise where a speech from the Speaker's stand is not inapropos. For instance, a few days after I was inducted into office, my colleague, Hon. James T. Lloyd, arose in his place and on behalf of my Rails County constituents presented me with a handsome bur-oak gavel, silver mounted, properly inscribed, and made from the "apron- log" of the first mill-dam built north of the Missouri River, the building of which was an important local his- toric event. Coupled with that was another important fact, important not to Missouri alone, but to the whole country, and that was that on his death-bed Daniel Rails, for whom Rails County was named, cast the decisive ballot which started Col Thomas Hart Benton on his high career of thirty consecutive years in the Senate of the United States. It being an interesting occasion, to Missourians, at any rate, I delivered a brief speech of LUC Yt-inji.iuit; ij. Again* wncu uyuciiuitiu /uicona, or the Reading, Pennsylvania, only survivor of that famous which met in Congress extraordinary session, July 4, came the floor of the 1861, recently upon House, I halted without rule the proceedings, any authorizing me so to his in a few and asked do, announced presence sentences, Hon. his Representative, John H. Rochcrmel, to ask unanimous consent for a recess for fifteen minutes that the members might be introduced to the veteran states- man. He enjoyed the impromptu reception, as did the members. But speeches by the Speaker from the chair

are rare indeed, opinions on points of order, no matter how elaborate, not being rated as speeches. Of course the Speaker lias the same right as any other member to speak from the floor. In the earlier days to have been the rule rather it seems than the excep- tion. It was Henry Clay's habit to participate in de- bate whenever the spirit moved him, which was quite frequently. The custom, however, has fallen largely into "innocuous desuetude," to borrow Mr. Cleveland's fa- mous phrase. During the Fifty-third Congress, the first in which I served, Mr. Speaker Crisp spoke from the floor only once. That was on the Wilson Tariff bill. Neither Mr. Speaker Reed nor Mr. Speaker Henderson participated in debate, and Mr. Speaker Cannon did so only a few times. On several occasions lie delivered eulogies on de- ceased members, a species of speechmaking in which he is exceedingly felicitous. I spoke only a few times from the floor during my eight years as Speaker. It being a most insignificant portion of the duties of the presiding ollk'er of ihe House of Representatives to make speeches, how came he by the misfit title of "? llcrr ii tile iviKjrm! '('lie nw.'ulintr /ifVi^Mi- <\ or title from the English without rhyme reason. At the end of President Wilson's present term which we all hope he will live to see the government will have and existed 132 years under the Constitution; assuming that President Wilson will live to fill out his term, the will be average presidential service 4 8/9 years, ranging from Gen. William Henry Harrison's 30 clays to the two full terms of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Jackson, Grant, Cleveland, Wilson. During the 130 Have been years ending March 4, 1919, there 36 regularly elected Speakers, counting Theodore M. Pomeroy, of New York, who was elected for one day. in this His election came about way. On March 3, 1869, Mr, Speaker Colfax resigned. So far as I have been able to ascertain, no sufficient reason was ever given for his action. He gave none in his elaborate speech of resignation. The fact that he was to be sworn in, March 4th, as Vice-President does not satisfy the inquiring mind. However that may be, he did resign, and Mr. Pomeroy was elected. Of course many men have been elected Speaker pro tempore> and the Speaker sometimes designates some member to act as Speaker for one day without the consent of the House, or for ten days with the consent of the House, provided the Speaker is sick. He can do this in one of two ways: First, by announcing the designation in open House; second, by a letter to the clerk of the House. Excluding Mr. Pomeroy and Mr. Speaker Frederick Gil- lett, the average service of the remaining 35 is 3 25/3 5 years. Henry Clay was elected six times, resigned twice, and served ten years and two hundred and forty-five days. Clay resigned the first time to go as Peace Commissioner to Ghent, along with John Qvuncy Adams, Albert Galla- and Mr. Speaker Cannon myself come next in length full of service four terms, aggregating eight years each. and 1 hold the record for Mr. Speaker Cannon continuous next after for of service, and come Henry Clay length of was service. Mr. Speaker Stevenson, Virginia, elected hut about the middle of for four full terms, resigned the to the of St. fourth term to go as Minister Court James's. Politics were at white heat at that time. Stevenson was so confident that his nomination would be promptly confirmed by the Senate that he resigned both the and his seat in the alasl the Speakership House; but, Senate was anti-Jackson, and therefore anti-Stevenson, and declined to confirm his nomination for more than a which time like Mohammed's was year, during he, coffin, suspended betwixt heaven and earth I It is absolutely safe to say that, had Mr. Speaker Stevenson lived to the oiRcc age of Methuselah and held all the time, he would never have resigned prematurely again. It's /Esop's a story, with variations, about the dog with good, edible bone in his mouth letting it go to grab what appeared to be a larger bone in the water! In the middle of his second and last term Mr. Speaker Crisp was tendered the appointment as Senator to fill out an tincxpirc'd term, bur his high sense of duty to the members who had elected him caused him to decline the proffered honor. He was subsequently nominated for a full term in the Senate, undi:r conditions where a nomi- nation was equivalent to an election, but died before the formal election took place. His deaih was a great loss to the public service, as lu- was of strong character and splendidly equipped. On the death of Senator Stone. I was offered an appointment as Senator, in the middle of my fourth term, hut felt it to he my duty to the I louse of Kentucky, and inomas D. iveeu, 01 mame, served three full terms each. The three terms each of Macon, Colfax, Blaine, and Carlisle were consecutive. Reed was Speaker of the and Fifty-first, Fifty-fourth, Fifty-fifth Congresses, the Democrats controlling the House in the Fifty-second and There is no doubt that P'ifty-third Congresses. he could have been Speaker in the Fifty-sixth and succeeding Con- in accord with his gresses, but he was not party on the Philippine question, and, being poor, desired to make some money. So he declined further service in the Speakership and resigned from the House to practise law in New York on a guaranty of fifty thousand dollars per annum. He was nominated by only two majority over William McKinley when first elected Speaker. Reed lived only three years after quitting Congress, but in that brief span accumulated half a million dollars. Nathaniel Macon was defeated for election for a fourth term by only one vote. Samuel J. Randall, of Pennsyl- vania, was Speaker for two full terms and three months, the three months being the unexpired term of Michael C. Kerr, of Indiana, who is the only Speaker to have died in office. The following Speakers served two full terms each: Frederick A. Muhlenberg, of Pennsylvania, Jonathan Dayton, of New Jersey, Joseph B. Varnum, of New York, James K. PoU, of Tennessee, Linn Boyd, of Ken- tucky, Charles Frederick Crisp, of Georgia, and David Bremner Henderson, of Iowa, General Henderson and myself are the only Speakers from west of the Mississippi. John W. Taylor, of New York, served one full term, and three and a half months of Henry Clay's fourth term, after Clay's second resignation. All the rest of the Speakers served one full term each to March out from January 18, 1814, 4, 1815, filling second term after first Henry Clay's Clay's resignation, of who served from and John Bell, Tennessee, June 30, to March 1835, filling out the term of 1834, 4, uncxpircd Andrew Stevenson, of Virginia, who had resigned as above two terms stated. Muhlenbcrg's were not consecutive. of Bell's A queer feature Spcakcrship was that his was K. Polk, of the same state. principal opponent James case of that sort on It is the only record, and will perhaps remain unique in our annals. Bell defeated Polk for the short term, but Polk turned the tables on him by defeat- for the term. Polk also ing him succeeding long defeated him for the second long term. The chances are that was the cause of Bell's presidential politics defeat for the long terms, as he was supporting the presidential candidacy of his friend, Hugh Lawson White, of Tennes- the fact that see, notwithstanding President Jackson, also of Tennessee, had determined that Martin Van Burcn should succeed himself in the White House which he did. At one time and for a long time General Jackson and Bell were close friends, as is proved by Jackson offer- ing Bell a place in his Cabinet, but the alienation of affection growing out of the White presidential candidacy drove Bell into the Whig party. From the foregoing facts it will be seen that Henry Clay's service in the Spcakcrship was longest, Theodore M. Pomcroy's shortest, and that Joseph G. Cannon and myself served the greatest number of consecutive terms. The statement that Pomcroy was ihc only man elected Speaker for one day is not in conflict with the fact that many men have been Speaker pro tt'M/wre by appoint- ment of the Speaker or by election by the House, but a Speaker pro le-mporr is not ;i Speaker. iNortti Maine, two each; Connecticut, Carolina, Uhio, one each. Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri, states is as The aggregate of service by follows: Ken- tucky, 22 years and 245 days; Massachusetts, 10 years; Virginia, 13 years; Pennsylvania, 101/31 years; In- diana, 2/3 years; New Jersey, 6 years; Tennessee, 9 New 5 years; South Carolina, 3 years; York, 3 i/2 12 years; Georgia, 6 years; Maine, 1/7 years; North 8 Carolina, 6 years; Missouri, years; Iowa, 4 years; and 2 Illinois, 8 years; Connecticut Ohio, years each. It is generally statedinbooks,magazines,andnewspaper$, and commonly accepted by the people, that Henry Clay was the youngest man ever elected to the Speakership, but it is not true. That distinction properly belongs to Robert M. T. Hunter, of Virginia, who was only 30, while Clay was nearly 35. Mr. Speaker Gillett is the oldest man ever elected. Speaker for his first term, being when sworn in 67 years 7 months 3 days old. Hon. Joseph G. Cannon is the second oldest man ever elected to the Speakership, being 67 years 6 months and 2 days old when first elected, and verging 01175 when he ceased to be Speaker. Theaver- age age of the 36 Speakers, when first elected, is 43 13/36 years. The average service of the Speakers is 3 5/7 years. The states that have given birth to Speakers are: Vir- ginia, with Clay, Stevenson, Jones, Hunter, Barbour; Massachusetts, with Varnum, Winthrop, Banks, Gillett; Pennsylvania, with Muhlenberg, Grow, Randall, Blaine, Davis, Kerr; Kentucky, with White, Carlisle, Clark; North Carolina, with Macon, Polk, Cannon; South Caro- lina, with Cheves and Orr; Connecticut, with Trumbull, Sedgwick; Tennessee, with Boyd and Bell; Georgia, with Cobb; New York, with Taylor, Pomeroy, Colfax; Ohio, with Keifer; Maine, with Reed; New Jersey, with Dayton and Pennineton. AMERICAN POLITICS 3 o3

and was therefore to the ing abroad, eligible Presidency, was horn in while Henderson Scotland, of Scocch parents, was to and therefore ineligible the Chief-Magistracy of the Republic While only one Speaker, James K. Polk, reached the and three White House, only others, Clay, Hell, and Blainc, received presidential nominations, several have striven for it. Several Prcxidcnts-to-bc, ;iml one ex- President, have served in the Mouse. James Madison was the first of the line. He sat in four Congresses, with Andrew in one. In the of Jackson House the Twenty-third Con- sat and all gress Polk, Killmorc, Pierce, destined to reach the White House, and John Quincy Adams, ex-President. In the House of the Thirtieth Congress sat Lincoln, John- son, and John Quincy Adams, while in the Mouse of the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses, in the Ohio dele- Garfield gation, sat and Hayes. All the Speakers have been lawyers, except Muhlen- who was a Lutheran berg, preacher, Colfax ;md Ul.-iinc, who were editors, and Randall, who was a business man. Sedgwick also be^an life as a preacher, hut soon aban- doned theology for die law. After die Hnii.sh captured New York, where he was preaching, Muhlenbcrf; devoted his energies and his talents to business and to the service of his country. The question is perpetually propounded: "Mow came to Hcmy Clay be clecU'd Speaker of i lie first Mouse in which he served?" Tin- answer usually is ihat it was on account of his commanding talents ;uul his vast popularity. Nothing of the .son! He was popular where known. feat; but his briei service plish that unconstitutional in the Senate had not made him a national figure by any man- ner of means. It did, however, enable him to form many in both valuable and powerful friends House and Senate, and no man more easily made acquaintances or friends. the These four things won for him Speakership: First, the administration did not want war with Great Britain, was determined to but the country did, and have it. as the war Clay appeared in Washington spirit incarnate, and ran as the war candidate. Second, out of one hun- dred and sixteen members, seventy of them were new members, and they naturally rallied to Clay's standard. Third, the Revolutionary War statesmen were rapidly passing off the stage, and a new generation coming on; and Clay with his graceful and gracious manners, his commanding presence, his enthusiasm, and his shining talents, appealed powerfully to their imaginations. Fourth, he was the first candidate for Speaker from west of the Alleghanies, and the very audacity of his candidacy amazed and pleased the Congressional 3'oungsters. So when the test came "The Great Commoner," "The Mill- boy of the Slashes," "Harry of the West," won in a 11 canter, receiving as "the war candidate for Speaker seventy-five votes against William Bibb, of Georgia, "the peace candidate," with thirty-eight votes, and three for Nathaniel Macon. It all reads like a talc out of the Arabian Nights, but it is sober history. Henderson and Kcifer were the only Speakers wounded in battle. Henderson lost a leg at Corinth. Speaker Keifer was a major-general in the Civil War, in which he was wounded four times, before his elevation to the chair. He was also a major-general in the Spanish- American War, subsequent to quitting the chair. Mr. as a a federate major-general. Speaker Crisp, boy, was soldier. Colfax was the Confederate only Speaker to become Vice-President. of New was the Jonathan Dayton, Jersey, only Speaker House controlled his elected in a absolutely by political wherein there were two opponents, only political parties. He defeated Nathaniel Macon by one vote. When I was elected to my fourth term the House stood and five 215 Democrats, 215 Republicans, Independents. I had to In order to succeed secure three Independents. As a matter of fact, four of them voted for me. I was elected by a majority of twelve. Theodore Sedgwick was the first Speaker who, upon a strict retiring, was thanked by party vote. The House declined to thank Andrew Stevenson for more than a month after lie resigned. As stated elsewhere, Winthrop, Cobb, and Banks were really elected by pluralities. Dayton, Winthrop, Cobb, Hanks, and Pcnnington were each elected by one vote. Many men have boon elected to the Spcakcrship, or defeated, on their records. During his first and only term in Congress, ex-Governor Pennington, of New Jer- sey, was elected Speaker because he had never formed nor expressed an opinion on any of the burning issues of his day, At Knoxvillc, Tennessee, I have a dear friend, Col. John B. Brownlow who carries around in his head a vast mass of reminiscences which he owes to his ft; I low- citizens to put into book form. Otherwise they will perish with him. lie is a son of the famous "Parson" Brownlow who, after leaving the pnNnt for politics, became both Governor of Tennessee and United States the boutnern Speaker reminds me that pro-slavery ad- mirers of Mr. Clay rejoiced over it for, as I think, a sufficient reason. This 1 say as one taught by my father man of his to regard Clay as the greatest generation, and as more entitled to the Presidency than any American since Washington; and that I think now. "Clay owed twenty thousand dollars, borrowed money, at the Northern Bank of Kentucky, at Lexington. Sev- eral times the note had been graciously renewed. Each to time he told the bank officer, '1 expect pay it when it falls due.' "Finally he went to the bank and said: *1 cannot ask you for further indulgence. Take my home, Ashland, in payment. I have no other resource.' "To his amazement the bank officer said: 'Mr. Clay, you owe nothing here; your debt, principal and interest, has been paid in full.' 'Paid by whom!' exclaimed Clay. 'By your friends,' was the reply. "'Tell me the names of those friends/ he said. "'That I decline to do,' said the bank official, 'because I gave my word not to do it. They do not wish their names known, because they do not wish you to feel obligated to them.' "Then the tears trickled down the face of Henry Clay as he exclaimed, 'My God! tlid any man ever have such friends?' "A few days before the event described, a young man in the early twenties, "who was then a Whig member of the New Jersey Legislature, had called at the bank, pre- senting introductory letters from Eastern friends of Mr. Clay, with the funds to liquidate his indebtedness in full, on condition that Clay should never know the identity of the parties who did it, and Clay died without knowing. *'1 he vounn- man who did rhts vs^s. Wllli:im Prnnirmron. knew he had been there. Clay's friends in the East had but heard of his embarrassment, not from Mr. Clay. I remember distinctly that -when Mr. Clay's death was announced I met old Whigs on the streets of Knoxville, in all in tears. No man our history had friends so de- voted, unless Jackson be exceptcd." Colonel low While at it, Brown wrote the following anecdote about General Jackson and James K. Polk, which shows the Iron Soldier of the Hermitage in the delectable role of match-maker: "The wife of James K. Polk was Sarah Childrcss. I a of presume she was kinswoman Matilda Childrcss, wife of John Cntron, of the United States Supreme Court, as they were natives of adjoining counties, I knew Mrs. Polk personally. She was a splendid woman, one of the most attractive I ever met. She died about 1886, at about eighty-eight years of ngc. "General Jackson, ac Miirfreesboro, the home of Miss Childrcss, met Polk. lie said to him, 'James, I have heard that you have broken your engagement to marry Sallie Childrcss.' "James replied, 'General, that is not true.' "Jackson said, 'I am glad to hear you say that. Sallie is a good girl and I would regret to see you disappoint 5 her. (The Childrcss family were all ardent friends of Jackson.) "Then James said, 'Sallie and I will be married, but I suppose the rumor that our engagement: was broken grew out of the fact that our marriage has been indefi- nitely postponed/ "'Why,' said the 'Hero of New Orleans/ 'has it been 1 indefinitely postponed? '"Because/ replied James, 'I feel too poor to marry to marry, and I believe in early marriages. So upon the advice of Jackson the future Speaker of the House and President of the United States lost no time in consum- mating his engagement with Sallie Childress. "This story has never been published, but I am sure it is authentic." I am the only Democrat, living or dead, ever nominated for his first term in the Speakership by a unanimous vote of a Democratic caucus. I have been nominated that Democrats had to way seven times. All other fight for their first nominations. Every once in a while somebody suggests that some eminent citizen, not a member of the House, should be elected Speaker, Why this suggestion is made puzzles me. There is no constitutional or scatutory inhibition against an outsider's being elected Speaker, but, while neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, I make bold to predict that no outsider will ever be elected so long as the earth spins on its axis or slides down the ecliptic. It is a thing incredible. Taken all in all, the thirty-seven Speakers compare very favorably, in both ability and character, with the twenty-eight Presidents. There are the names of some great men, and of only a few small men, on the roster of the Speakers of the House of Representatives. Five Presidents, the elder Harrison, Taylor, Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley, have died in office; but only one Speaker, Michael C. Kerr, of Indiana. Three men and only three have been elected to the Speakership during their first term of service in the House Frederick A. Muhlcnbcrg, Henry Clay, and William Pennington, Muhlcnbevg was elected on the first day of the First Congress, lie had served in the Continental occausc or ever elected opeaser crueny ms Knowledge ot law. Speakers arc elected reason of the parliamentary by of other qualities. The of possession quality leadership the which enables a js usually thing man to win the It without that some glittering prize. goes saying of have been skilled the Speakers parliamentarians. The is with a "clerk to Speaker provided the Speaker's known as the table/' popularly "parliamentary clerk." is to His principal business be entirely familiar with the rules and precedents, so as to be able to furnish them to the Speaker at a moment's notice. Most points of order are disposed of instanter and without debate. It is only on rare occasions that a parliamentary question of great interest or difficulty is presented to the Speaker. These are argued in sxtenso. While the Speaker is listening to the debate, his fidus Achates, alias "the parliamentary clerk," is as busy as a bee collating the precedents, if any there be, which he places before the Speaker, who his gives decision with or without giving reasons for the same, as the situation seems to him to demand. If it is a new question, he usually renders an opinion more or less elaborate, as that opinion bin/us the way oJi that question for himself and his successors. No Speaker is bound to follow precedents, but unless they arc palpably wrong they are very persuasive. In- deed, a rule, though wrong, may have been followed so long that it would be revolutionary and unwise to re- verse it,

For instance, when the Mouse bill revising Schedule K was sent over to the Senate, (hat body struck out all after the enacting clause, and inserted a new bill. When the amended bill came back to the House-, Hon. James R. Mann, the indefatigable ami very capable Republican flnnr Ipnrlnr rnlc^/l tlio rwtitii- t-K-1 1- M *!.,. T-T, ,..., ,,\ was ultra under the guise of amendment acting vires, I overruled his point of order, stating, however, that if the House in the First I had been Speaker of Congress, been I and his point of order had raised, would have sus- the House and the tained it, but that country had on the of the acquiesced in such action part Senate for one hundred and twenty-two years, and it had become the modus in part and parcel of operandi constructing tariff bills. As a general thing, I ruled promptly, giving no reasons. I learned that when quite a youth, from a very excellent, well-educated, and successful nisi prius judge, who told me that he rarely gave reasons for a ruling, because he might make the right ruling and give the wrong reasons therefor. It is a matter of common knowledge that any member may appeal from any decision of the Speaker to the House itself; and the appeal is debatable unless debate Is cut off by a motion to table the appeal. During the eight years of my service as Speaker there were nine appeals taken from my decisions. But I was sustained in every case, and by more than a party vote, except that just two days before the expiration of my last term as Speaker, in a hotly contested election case, the Republicans, v.oo were temporarily in the majority, overruled one of my decisions, which was an absolutely just decision, but they did it to get their contestant seated. In these latter years it is only occasionally that a Speaker, or chairman of the committee of the whole House on the state of the Union, renders an opinion of permanent and far-reaching consequence. Most ques- tions have been decided many of them several times From precedent to precedent.

Most assuredly "precedent" largely controls in the conduct of the House. Besides his decision in the Ran- dolph-Calhoun matter, heretofore cited, Henry Clay rendered other important decisions. Being among the he was in a earlier Speakers, manner blazing the legis- lative trail. without that It goes saying Speaker Reed's counting of a quorum was an epochal achievement. While Carlisle was Speaker, cx-Gov. James B. Mc- Creary, presiding in the committee of the whole House on the state of the Union, rendered an opinion of tre- at mendous import. Congress had, a previous session, authorised a steel, armor-plated battle-ship---just one- and it was the first. When McCreary was in the chair the Navy Appropriation bill was under consideration. It contained a provision for another steel armor-plated battle-ship. Somebody raised the point of order that that item must go out of the bill, because it violated the well-established rule that new legislation cannot be enacted in an appropriation bill. It was argued, on the that contrary, building a new navy was "a continuing work," and therefore the item in controversy should not be excluded by the rule. McCruary took the latter view, and ruled that the appropriation for the new battle-ship was in order. By that decision our new navy was made possible. Governor McCrcary u-ns a colonel in Gen. John H. Morgan's cavalry, member and Speaker of ihe Kentucky twelve Legislature, years a Representative in Congress, of part the time chairman of the great. Committee on Foreign Affairs, Governor of Kentucky for two full terms services in tne army anu in me vunuuu mgu stations in civil life put together, his conduct never had as much influence on human affairs as his parliamentary decision holding that the building of the new navy was a continu- decision was ing work. McCreary's adhered to from Finis 1887 till February, 1919, when Hon. J. Garrett, of Tennessee, one of the ablest men in the House, was in the chair and overruled it and from a parliamentary standpoint Garrett was correct. Colonel McCreary delighted to tell reminiscences of Morgan's raid through Indiana and Ohio, and well he might, for his part in that remarkable ride was the most notable and spectacular event in his military career. He was promoted from major to lieutenant-colonel at the battle of Green River Bridge in the beginning of the his great raid, July 4, 1863, when colonel, Chenault, was killed and where General Morgan lost about three hun- dred men in killed and wounded. He said the bridge was held and successfully defended by a Colonel Moore and seventy Michigan infantrymen in rifle-pits, behind an insurmountable chevaux-de-frise, General Morgan sent in a flag of truce, demanding the surrender of the Union troops. Colonel Moore sent back the curt answer: "The 4th of July is a blanked poor day for a Union man to surrender on!" McCreary told me another story illustrating the hos- pitality of Kentuckians under even the most discouraging circumstances. He said the weather was very hot and dusty, and when the Confederate raiders finally surren- dered they were weary and dirty, having had no change of clothing, and hardly any rest or sleep, for nearly three weeks, McCreary happened to be in command of the last of Morgan's men to surrender. When they ran up the white flag the Union general, Hobson, also a Kentuckian, Whereupon Mc^reary, very mucn bedraggled and cov- rode forth and "I do." ered with dust, replied, "Who are you?" asked General Hobson. "I am Lieut.-Col. James B. McCrcary." Then Hobson with a grin said: "You are a fine-looking aren't lieutenant-colonel, you? What you most need is drink." Then the action to the a good suiting word, he drew from his holster a flask of Kentucky bourbon and ministered to the thirst of his prisoner, Whether anybody gave General Hobson a drink a so later the fortunes of war year or when, having changed, Morgan's men captured him at Cynthiana, Kentucky

I never heard. In my eight years as Speaker I rendered hundreds of decisions usually having precedents to guide or influ- ence. But I decided one important point which, strange to say, had never been raised before, and that was, where the House is voting on a motion to pass a bill over the President's veto, whether in making up the necessary two-thirds vote those who answer "present" should be counted, or those only who vote "aye" and "no." I held that those answering "present" should not be counted, and on appeal from my ruling the House by an overwhelming majority sustained my decision. The case was this: When the roll was called on passing the Underwood Wool hill, ten members answered "pres- ent." If they were counted the House had not voted to pass the bill over President Taft's veto. If they were not counted the House had passed it over bis veto. The reasons for my decision are so cogent that I am certain that my precedent will be followed for all time- to come. Here they are. The Constitution says: "In all such cases [that is, in cases of voting to pass a

Kill /i. *!, r> :,i . ...1 .1... e \ i. ir_ Word tOUCIling UlUSC wiiw diiarvv,! JJI^O^^L. Voting on passing a bill over the President's veco is the where the only action of Congress Constitution requires a yea-and-nay vote. If those answering "present" are to be counted, mani- as "no." festly they must be counted voting There can be no other conclusion. I took the pains, after my de- cision was rendered, to ascertain how the ten members who answered "present" would have voted had they been free to vote, and I discovered that eight would have voted "aye," while only two would have voted "no." The formula used by the Speaker in putting the ques- tion on passing a bill over the President's veto is this stately and sonorous collocation of words: "Will the House, on reconsideration, agree to pass the bill, the ob- jections of the President to the contrary notwith- standing?" It was on that occasion that the late Augustus Peabody Gardner, of Massachusetts, demonstrated that he pos- sessed perfect mental integrity. He was one of the best parliamentarians of the House. As soon as I rendered my opinion, without giving any reason for it, he arose with The Parliamentary Manual in his hand and said: "Mr. Speaker, I appeal from the decision of the chair. I have an authority exactly in point." I replied, "I know on what you rely a foot-note in The Manual. It deceives you just as it deceived me for a while, but the foot-note is wrong and misleading. That foot-note does not correspond to the decision on which it seems to be based. Mr. Underwood promptly moved to table Mr. Gardner's appeal. While the motion to table is not debatable, I wanted Gardner to have time to hunt up the decision in Hind's Precedents. Conse- quently I permitted members to talk about my decision decision is said: "Mr. Speaker, your correct and I with- honest draw my appeal "an statement which under the circumstances many men would not have made, by reason Sonic other of pride of opinion. member renewed the and Underwood moved to table appeal, promptly the and his motion carried two hundred and appeal, by forty to ten. When ic was over Mr. Gardner arose and snid: "Mr. decision is of so Speaker, your much importance that you should render a more elaborate opinion," which I did. in It was printed The Congressional Record, and was in substance as is set forth above. Nearly a dozen Representatives volunteered to enter the Great War. Mr. Gardner was among the first. He said that he had advocated "preparedness" so long and so strenuously that be could not, with a clear conscience and a straight face, stay nt home while others were going forth to battle. By reason of having been a captain in the Spanish-American War he was appointed Hetitcnant- colonel. Soon finding that the regiment to which he had belonged no immediate chance of being sun I: to France, he procured his own demotion by being assigned as major in a Georgia regiment which was soon to be sent overseas. 1 have heard or read of bin one other such case. Senator John Tyler Morgan, of Alabama, he-came a Con- federate colonel at the beginning of the Civil War, a nil was soon promoted to be a brigadier. In some battle in Virginia all the field officers in his old regiment were killed, and the remaining officers and men of that regi- ment begged him to resign as brigadier-general and be- come their colonel once, more, which he did. Sucli noble acts of self-abnegation as those of Morgan and Gardner are so rare among men thai (hey deserve to be gratefully word toucmng tnose wno bill over the President's Voting on passing a veto is the where the Constitution only action of Congress requires a yea-and-nay vote. If those answering "present" are to he counted, mani- be as "no." festly they must counted voting There can be no other conclusion. I took the pains, after my de- cision was rendered, to ascertain how the ten members who answered "present" would have voted had they been free to vote, and I discovered that eight would have voted "aye," while only two would have voted "no." The formula used by the Speaker in putting the ques- tion on passing a bill over the President's veto is this stately and sonorous collocation of words: "Will the House, on reconsideration, agree to pass the bill, the ob- jections of the President to the contrary notwith- standing?" It was on that occasion that the late Augustus Peabody Gardner, of Massachusetts, demonstrated that he pos- sessed perfect mental integrity. He was one of the best parliamentarians of the House. As soon as I rendered my opinion, without giving any reason for it, he arose with The Parliamentary Manual in his hand and said; "Mr. Speaker, I appeal from the decision of the chair. I have an authority exactly in point." I replied, "I know on what you rely a foot-note in The Manual, It deceives you just as it deceived me for a while, hut the foot-note is wrong and misleading. That foot-note does not correspond to the decision on which it seems to be based. Mr. Underwood promptly moved to table Mr. Gardner's appeal. While the motion to table is not debatable, I wanted Gardner to have time to hunt up the decision in Hind's Precedents. Conse- quently I permitted members to talk about my decision .... decision is correct and I said; "Mr. Speaker, your with- honest draw my appeal "an statement which under the men would circumstances many not have made, by reason of Some other member renewed the of pride opinion. and Underwood moved to tahlc the appeal, promptly and his motion carried two hundred and appeal, by forty to ten. When it was over Mr. Gardner arose and said: "Mr. decision is of so much that Speaker, your importance you should render a more elaborate opinion," which I did. in It was printed The Congressional Record, and was in substance as is set forth above. Nearly a dozen Representatives volunteered to enter the Great War. Mr. Gardner was among the first. He said that he had advocated "preparedness" so long and so strenuously that he could not, with a clear conscience and a straight face, stay at home while others were going forth to battle. By reason of having been a captain in the Spanish-American War he was appointed lieutenant- colonel. Sooji finding that (ho regiment to which he belonged had no immediate chance of being sent to France, he procured his own demotion hy being assigned as major in a Georgia regiment which was soon to be sent overseas. 1 have heard or read of hut one other such case. Senator John Tylrr Morgan, of Alabama, became a Con- federate colonel at the beginning of the Civil War, and was soon promoted to be a brigadier. In some battle in Virginia all the field oflurrs in his old regitm'iil u'cre killed, and the remaining officers and men of that regi- ment begged him to resign as brigadier-general and be- come their colonel onee more, which he did. Such noble acts of self-abnegation as those of Morgan and Gardner are so rare among men that they deserve to lie gratefully an and was sincerely mourned by ms tenow-members. He was an able, industrious, courageous, patriotic of and man, faithful in the discharge every duty in every relation of life. He was an incisive speaker, a close and student, a strong debater, widely read, above all was unafraid. He was the only one of the Congressional volunteers who died in the army during the Great War. "Greater love hath no man than that he give up his life for his 11 friend or country. CHAPTER XII

and Ncal Campaign of 1892 Tom Johnson Larry Fight over tariff plank in convention Crisp re-elected Speaker Silver debate My tariff spcccli Income tax Wilson chairman of Ways and Means Gorman's proph- ecyA question of veracity.

'"THE dominant question in the campaign of i89Z was I the reform of the tariff downward. The issue was

sharply drawn. In the platforms there was no dodging. The Republican platform ran; "We reaffirm the American doctrine of protection. We call attention to its growth abroad. We maintain that the prosperous condition of our country is largely due to the wise revenue legislation of the last Republican Con- all gress. We believe that articles which cannot be produced in the United States, except luxuries, should be admitted free of duty, and that on all imports coming into competition with the products of American labor there should be levied duties equal to the difference between wages abroad and at home1 ." The Democrats stated their position in these ringing words : "We denounce Republican protection as a fraud a rob- bery of the great majority of the American people for the benefit of the few. We declare it to be a funda- mental principle of the Democratic party that the P'cderal government has no constitutional power to impose and collect tariff duties except for the purpose of revenue only, tli-)f t-li*. /v*ll/ir>t Inn r\f ctu-li l-iv^c clvill lw icaueis, Most of the Uemocranc me-aming m r . Cleve- no idea of such land himself, had making a bold and as the one set forth above. sweeping declaration Con- upon a tariff plank of the sequently, they agreed variety is denominated which in popular parlance a "straddle," was incorporated into the This "straddle" duly platform, to the which was reported Chicago convention by a the committee on resolutions majority of through Col. H. editor of The St. Louis Charles Jones, ^ Republic, but that committee was destined to be chairman; rudely awakened and soundly beaten. Prominent in the Ohio delegation in that convention sat one of nature's noblemen, Tom L. Johnson "a the headwaters of Bitter Creek" fighter from -brave as honest as the is a lion, true as steel, day long, and blithe a he was as a lark. By birth Kentuckian, blood-kin to Richard M. that grim soldier, Col. Johnson, commonly called "Old Dick/' who won renown at the battle of the and River Thames by his gallantry by slaying Tccumseh, one of the greatest of all Indians. Colonel Johnson was and subsequently a Representative Senator in Congress, as well as Vice-President. It may be remarked paren- he is the Vice-President thetically that only elected by the Senate of the United States when the Electoral Col- leges failed to elect. Tom Johnson Tom, mark you, not Thomas was ;i roly-poly statesman of middle stature in extra-good flesh, with a magnificent head crowned with abundant chestnut curls and an exceedingly handsome face, usually wreathed in smiles. He always dressed in lift- u> exquisite taste, ;mt1 enjoyed the full. He had risen from the humble position of currying mules fora street-car company to being both a muKimillionaiieand a Representative in Congress.

1 T saw liim fin :\ thintr in ilic I ift\'-l hird Cnnnr^ss wliirli of steel rails m tnc ana when the facturer world, yet the Wilson Tariff bill a tariff authors of reported rate of a half ton on steel he seven dollars and per rails, fought it

nail- while all the world wondered 1 tooth and Ho sol- affirmed that did emnly and wrathfully they not need and if would let them alone any protection, Congress American steel-rail manufacturers would dominate the markets of the world. God, so we are told, moves in a His wonders to Likewise tariff mysterious way perform. builders sometimes. It was an amazing spectacle to see them force on Johnson's steel rails a heavy tariff which he swore he did not need or want. It is a matter of common knowledge that as mayor of Cleveland he exhausted his physical energies and expended his large fortune in his long, bitter, and successful fight to force three-cent street-car fares for the people of that ambitious city; which move than any odier one cause enabled her to pass Cincinnati in population and in was a prestige. Tom Johnson reformer who reformed men and things. The Ohio member of the committee on resolutions was the Marshal Ney of the Buckeye Democracy and Tom Johnson's put crony, Lawrence T. Neal, popularly known as "Larry." They were par nobile fratrnm a nob Is pair of political brethren. Neal offered an amendment to the platform by striking out the elaborate and meaningless tariff straddle and insert- ing the radical tariff plank above quoted. No doubt that Tom Johnson aided and ahi'itc-d him in its construc- tion and encouraged him to introduce it. The fight was short, but bloody and decisive. So far as the debate was concerned, 'lorn Johnson not only stood by consenting to his friend's fierce assault upon the platform and plat- form makers, after thu manner of Saul at the stoning of Mr. Cleveland conscience-keepers and even himself denounced the insertion of the Neal plank as an effort to defeat him- a most lame, nnpotent, and preposterous conclusion. The timid were in a panic, the time-servers were in the were aghast, the double-dealers mulligrubs, an but nevertheless Mr. Cleveland won overwhelming tariff victory on the Neal-Johnson plank which he did not want and the authors of which he never forgave. Notwithstanding the fact that the Democrats swept on the tariff issue in the country almost solely 1892, President Cleveland called the Congress to meet in ex- not to traordinary session August 7, 1893 revise the tariff downward, for which purpose he and it were both chiefly elected but to repeal the purchasing clause of the Sherman Silver law, which was only a minor issue in the campaign. That extraordinary session split the Democratic party wide open and was the source of all our -woe, which sent us wandering in the wilderness for sixteen years, and from which we escaped in 1912 only through the factional division in the Republican Chicago convention.

Both Houses of the Congress organized August ytli. On the 8th the President sent to Congress his message. The Free Silver leaders and the Single Gold Standard leaders entered into the following agreement as to pro- cedure on the bill to repeal the purchasing clause of the Sherman Silver law: "Ordered by the Mouse that H. R. No. I shall be taken up for immediate consideration and considered for four- teen days. During such consideration night sessions may be held for debate only, at the request of either side. The daily sessions to commence at 11 A.M. and continue until 5 P.M. Eleven days of the debate to be given to as the determine. Ihe last the two sides, bpcnkcr may of debate be devoted to the consideration three days may the amendments herein for of the bill and provided under five-minute rule of the as in the usual House, Com- House. General leave to is mittee of the Whole print hereby granted. "Order of amendments: The vote shall be taken first on the amendment providing for the free coinage of silver ratio. If that then a at the present fail, separate vote a to be had on a similar amendment proposing ratio of seventeen to one; if that fails, then on one proposing a if ratio of eighteen to one; that fails, then on one propos- of nineteen to if that on one ing a ratio one; fails, propos- to one. ing a ratio of twenty "If the above amendments fail, it shall be in order to offer an amendment reviving the Act of the 28th of Feb- silver ruary, 1878, restoring the standard dollar, com- monly known as the 131and~Allison Act, the vote then to betaken on the engrossment and third reading of the bill as amended, and on the bill itself, if the amendments shall have been voted down, and on the final passage of the bill without other intervening motions." On the Saturday night preceding the 7th there was a meeting in the hall of the House of nil Silver Repre- sentatives without regard to political affiliations, to take counsel together. Out of a membership of three hundred and fifty-nine there were two hundred and one present. Over this meeting Judge David Browning Culbcrtson, of Texas, presided. Kroni the large attendance we con- cluded that we were sure winners; bin alackl and also nlas! we had not included in our calculations (he enor- mous power of patronage. When the test came, two weeks later, instead of two hundred and one votes we 1.1 CENTURY OF 3 2* MY QUARTER

not it for at the first people did forget opportunity they life and retired the floppers to private permanently. a former The late John E. Lamb, Representative from the Terre Haute district, a political proteg6 of Senator one of the most of Daniel W. Voorhees, eloquent orators, told me in his own house a pathetic story touching Voor- on the hees's change of base coinage question. Voorhees, who had been a radical Silver man, was chairman of the Senate Finance Committee in 1893, which committee which of handled coinage legislation position necessity on that gave him great influence subject. Consequently, when Senator Voorhees lined up with President Cleve- land in favor of the Single Gold Standard, the Silver men and said were thoroughly indignant many hard things to and about "The tall Sycamore of the Wabash." Lamb said that Voovhees mourned the remnant of his days about changing sides, and that he honestly believed that it shortened the brilliant Senator's life. According to his tale, Voorhees declared over and over again that he never did change his views on the coinage question, hut that he faced this situation: "In Indiana were thousands of faithful Democrats who had followed him loyally and unfalteringly through three decades. If he aligned him- self with the President he could reward at least some of them. If he did not, all of his friends would be cut off from any hope of preferment, and that out of love for these veterans who hud borne the heat and burden of the day in so many hot conflicts and political conflicts were nowhere on earth hotter than in Indiana he sup- On the gtn tnc oratorical scorm nroKe in tiic Mouse a storm which for with unspeakable fury raged years and and which more men jn Congress out, destroyed than of but an old did the siege Troy; adage worthy of accept- "It is an ill ance hath it that wind which blows good to truth to certain nobody," and, tell, men made towering out of the warfare. reputations savage There was a hot fight as to who should open for the Standardists. Isador of Single Gold Rayner, Maryland, and eloquent, learned, enthusiastic, subsequently United attained States Senator, who wide and enduring celebrity for as counsel-in-chicf Admiral Winficld Scott Schley, won. Rayner was of Jewish extraction and stands sec- ond only to Judah P. Benjamin, of Louisiana, in point of the half-dozen ability and reputation among Israelitish Sen- ators the four others being Yulee of Florida, Jonas of Louisiana, Simon of Oregon, and Guggenheim of Colorado. There was no squabble among the Silver men as to who should lead. All eyes and hearts turned to the great Missourian, Richard Parks Bland, who IKK! devoted years to the cause and was named "Silver Dick" the wide world around. In very truth "Where MacGrcgor sat was the head of the table." No truer or braver soul ever led a forlorn hope. He did not belong to the school of Demosthenes, Cicero, and Patrick Henry. He indulged in no frills of oratory. Me possessed the power of lumi- nous statement in an unusual degree. He kiu-w more about the history and philosophy of the precious metals than any other American. Horn in Kentucky, lu: came of Revolutionary Virginia stock, one of his ancestors being a signer of the Declaration and bosom friend of Washing- ton. In his youth he had been an Indian-fighter on the frontier, and amid the splendors of Washington retained .c i. cause so close to his heart, but it did secure for his name the first place in the presidential black-list. In ordinary fairness to Mr. Cleveland it should be stated that in the matter of gold and silver coinage he never pretended to be that which he was not. He never was for the free and unlimited coinage of silver at sixteen to one, and never claimed to be. The majority of Demo- crats were in favor of it. It is unaccountable on any Democratic grounds of reason that the leaders, knowing masses on the sentiment of the Democratic that subject, as well as Mr. Cleveland's, nominated him and then claimed throughout the campaign, through some son of self-deception, that he was a bimetallist which be was not any more than he was a Mohammedan. They cer- tainly should have known his opinion, and, what is more, they knew he was firm even unto stubbornness. At Hannibal, Missouri, in that campaign, I heard Senator George Graham Vest, who favored the free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at sixteen to one, who was an honest man as well as a very able and brilliant one, state to a great audience that the only difference between Mr. Cleveland and himself on the Silver question was as to the ratio. The Senator first deceived himself, and then unintentionally deceived his audience. So did other Democratic orators. Two queries force themselves on students and casuists: I. Why, being in favor of the Single Gold Standard, and knowing full well that the Democratic masses were in favor of the free and unlimited coinage of both silver and gold, and knowing also that they believed that the Chicago platform declared for that very thing, did Mr. Cleveland accept a nomination on that platform? 2. Having been elected on it, knowing how Democrats construed it, was it or was it not his duty to trie auvci H&UL cl/-(.nn/lfri> rtf Arl/'inc'tc -111/-1 rifnnrc ^ . of , Judge William M. Springer, Illinois, chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, because, as heretofore stated, at the psychological moment Springer threw his little bunch of supporters for the Speakership to Charles Frederick Crisp, thereby giving the nomination to the as chairman of Georgian. Springer, Ways and Means, was much ridiculed for his "pop-gun tariff bills" that one bill is, instead of introducing general revising all the schedules, he introduced a separate bill for each schedule. Great sport was had at his expense, but it has never been settled definitely that Springer's derided plan was not as other. The chances are that as good any his fussy manner had as much to do in provoking the jests as did the "pop-gun bills" themselves. In confirmation of this view it wilt be remembered that in the Sixty-second Congress Mr. Chairman Underwood introduced particu- lar bills for particular schedules, beginning with "Sched- ule K" the wool schedule. Underwood's bills were as truly "pop-gun bills" as were Springer's. Nobody vent- ured to ridicule Underwood or his bills, because that able, suave, sedate, and level-headed statesman docs not and is a invite ridicule; what good deal more, it was widely known that he carried a fist of steel in a velvet glove. Watching him in action, a person reali/cs that "a man may smile and smile and be a fighter." Consequently, his opponents were chaiy of trying any funny business with him. A bit of contemporaneous history vindicates Judge Springer and his pop-gun bills. Our Republican friends in this (the Sixty-sixth) Congress are bringing in separate bills for separate items. They arc- the suc- cessors of the men who poked so much fun at Springer's pop-gun bills. The arrangement with Springer appears not to have tu iinu hands-tree in HUIK-HI^ u^ I-UIUUHLLUCS, promptly William L. Wilson, of West Virginia, chairman appointed and of the Ways Means, thereby ipso facto making him at the Democratic floor leader, same time demoting to the of Indian Affairs which Springer chairmanship the was a severe jolt for veteran Illinoisan,

It was rumored, and to some extent believed, that Presi- dent Cleveland demanded of Mr. Crisp Wilson's appoint- ment as a condition precedent to his not setting up a candidate of* his own for the Spcakership in opposition to that be true or whether himself Crisp. Whether Crisp Wilson will never be known unless Cleveland preferred or Crisp left data on the subject yet unpublished which did not. own is that probably they My opinion the for Mr. story is apocryphal, Speaker Crisp was as much a man of his own head as was Mr. Cleveland. Individually I have never believed that rumor for the all- sufficient reason that Mr. Speaker Crisp was stronger in the House than was President Cleveland, and could have been re-elected in spite of the President, even had the President desired to defeat him, of which there is no evidence. At any rate, the West Virginian secured the greatly coveted pri/c, and instead of being called to take a higher seat as was a certain man mentioned in the Bible 'Judge Springer was called to take a lower seat at the feast. lie made no outcty and did not complain certainly not in public but proceeded to discharge the duties of his new chairmanship faithfully and well, making, as usual, fre- quent speeches. lie was a man of wide information, a useful legislator, and of perfect inregricy. The vexed and vexing Silver question having been disposed of at the extra session, the Keck-ntl Election laws rpnp;)]pH. IIIIM tlif cMMimiit /". riitmiiiif-f/l tlif Ai-rvv \\n>n> were elected. The tariff question, like the poor, we have with us Wilson introduced his always. Promptly Mr. bill and as the House convened it was reported as soon after the Christmas holidays. A protracted, angry, and somewhat futile debate ensued. Every section, every item, every line was discussed ad libitum many of them ad nauseam. from the All the arguments ever used, building of the great of Chinese wall and the tariff system Augustus Caesar, were brought forth, revamped, and reburnished all the heavy and bearded anecdotes, from Epictetus and Msop to Mark Twain and Bill Nye, were resurrected from their tombs "to point a moral or adorn a tale.'* Of course Mr. Wilson was the principal debater on his side, but he was aided powerfully by the Democrats of his committee Benton McMillan, of Tennessee, since Governor of his state and envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Peru; Henry G. Turner, of Georgia, one of the most incisive speakers in the House; William Bourke Cockran, of New York; Williamjennings Bryan, of Nebraska; John C. Tarsntiy, of Missouri; Clifton R. Breckinridge, of Arkansas, subsequently ambassador to St. Petersburg, and others not of the committee. On the other side were the leviathan of Republicans- Thomas Brackett Reed, of Maine; John Dalzell, of Penn- sylvania, one of the ablest men the Keystone State ever sent to Congress; Julius Cicsar Burrows, of Michigan, subsequently and -for many years a United States Senator, with a voice like an /Eolian harp; Gen. Charles Henry Grosvenor, one of the toughest debaters in the land; Jonathan P. Dolliver, of Iowa, subsequently a United

States Senator, endowed with abundant oratorical gifts; Samuel Walker McCall, afterward Governor of Massa- lauici ui me i arm bill the preaestmeu Lungiey ; of New a Sereno E. Payne, York, splendid man, author Tariff H. of the Payne bill; Joseph Walker, of Massa- old chusetts, a handsome gentleman possessed of vast a information and dreadful temper; Col. William Peters a and Hepburn, powerful speaker; others, as the sale "too tedious to mention." a battle bills run, Twas royal and ran for many weeks. As it passed the House it was bill from the of a a fairly good viewpoint man honestly in favor of a tariff for revenue but what the Senate did

to it was something awful. in that I participated somewhat debate, and my expe- rience may help young Representatives get a foothold. In the Silver debate I was compelled to speak at night or not at all a very unsatisfactory performance. If a man is any sort of a judge of his own speeches, I pro- nounce the one on Silver among the best speeches I have ever made in Congress. But there were few members the at present that's alwaj's case night, except, in the closing days of a session and only one man in the Press

gallery. A great many persons do not know it, but the Press gallery gives Representatives the big end of their reputations, and the members of the Press gallery rarely attend at night. Worse still, it was Saturday night, and, so far as receiving any considerable notice of a speech is concerned, Saturday is the worst; day in the week to make it, because the Sunday papers are crowded with other things. So I determined that I would not speak at night on the tariff a .subject touching which I knew move than any other subject. I had learned enough of House procedure to know that the seventeen members of the committee would speak without limit which meant at least two hours each on flip nv^rno-n -in/1 ill -I i- r.lcl i-ii/..^K,.fo ,v,.,-, rt ,-ill,, ,,, ,.1/1 K,, than in two speeches in my first Congress any subsequent reason: Congresses, and for this During my long-drawn- out and bitter contest with Colonel Norton for the nomi- set other nation, as heretofore forth, among things I taken as active a charged that he had not part in the should have done. His proceedings as he reply was that a new member was compelled to take a back seat for two terms. Otherwise the veteran members would make it so hot for him that it would do him much harm. I countered on that, with the rash declaration that some men were created to occupy back seats, but that if a man had in him the stuff out of which statesmen were made he could go to the front whenever he got ready 1 That tickled the audiences, but was a source of trouble sub- that sequently, for if I did not make good on extravagant assertion, Norton's friends would make my life miserable and probably defeat me for renomination. It will be remembered that it was painfully close betwixt him and me in 1892. In the mean time some men who supported me that year, disappointed as to securing offices, had turned against me, so that my situation was decidedly critical. Consequently, being determined to express my views on the tariff in the daytime and at length, I made up my mind to speak all I desired under the five-minutes rule the best rule on the subject of spccchmaking ever de- vised by the wit of man. You cannot, in the very nature of the case, have an exordium or u peroration to a five- minute speech. You must sci/e the subject in the middle and cram as much of thought as possible into that brief period. It might well be called a condenser of language. Moreover, it is an elastic rule, and except in the rush days at the close of a session, when time is more precious than more. Inerc is this for a utes, perhaps advantage mem- under the five-minutes rule ber speaking instead of in debate there is almost certain to be a the general larger of both attendance of members the House and the Press if the bill is of considerable gallery, especially any importance.^ Having discovered these facts, I carefully, studiously, and laboriously prepared the best and strongest tariff' that I could write an hour and a speech quartet' long it it rewrote it, polished up, boiled down, cut it into five- minutes sections, and committed it thoroughly to mem- I did not ask the for time in the ory. managers general debate, but patiently waited for the five-minutes dis- cussion to begin. Then I went in. Here is what hap- I five minutes and pened: One day spoke quit; another time day I spoke ten, my being extended once; another day I spoke fifteen; another day twenty; and the last day I spoke thirty-five minutes under the five-minutes rule. Then I got together the various parts and printed them as one speech. From that day to this I have never had any trouble getting all the time I wanted perhaps more than was good for inc. One of the bip; questions in the construction of that Tariff bill was whether it should contain an income-tax provision. The Democratic members of the Committee on Ways and Menus decided that it should, hut not unanimously, for William Bourke Cockran, a Democratic member of that committee, famous as an orator, led the fight against it and made ;t terrific onslaught; upon it very much to the disgust of the Democratic brethren. His speech against: the income tax somewhat dimmed the glory of his speech a few weeks before, in favor of the Ul LIIC New-Yorker had been a baby. Some sensational news- kissed paper man declared that Coke Cockran, but that was a pleasant fantasy. The embrace which Coke bestowed upon Cockran was the most spectacular feature of that debate, except when Harry St. George Tucker and \V. J. Bryan carried Mr. Chairman William L. Wilson out of the hall on their shoulders, as heretofore described. It was noticed, how- ever, that nobody embraced Cockran when he finished his anti-income-tax speech. Notwithstanding the op- position of Cockran and others, we incorporated the income tax in the Tariff bill. Though the Senate cut and carved the Wilson Tariff bill in a most cruel way, it left the income-tax feature in it. So it became the law of the land destined to be killed by a five-to-four decision of the Supreme Court which decision, under the peculiar and suspicious circumstances under which it was rendered, became a stench in the nostrils of all decent people. The opponents of the income tax claimed that it was uncon- stitutional. It was decided at the first hearing by a bench of eight judges four for and four against its con- stitutionality Mr. Justice Shiras voting for its constitu- tionality. Of course the tie-vote left the income tax in full force and effect. Mr. Justice Jackson, of Tennes- see, was at home suffering from what proved to be his last sickness. Because he was originally a Whig and had been appointed to the Supreme Court bench by a Republi- can President, Gen. Benjamin Harrison, the opponents of the income tax erroneously concluded that were he present he would cast his vote against the constitutionality of the income tax thereby making a majority against it. So they moved for a rehearing and secured it. Mr. Justice Jackson came to Washington with the seal of ClSiun Mr. voted to sustain surprises: Justice Jackson jiad the and Mr. constitutionality, Justice Shiras had flopped to of the income and the opponents tax, therefore by a vote of five to four the income tax was held to be unconstitu- void. tional, null, aml ( It immediately became part of the Democratic creed, but it was not again placed upon the statute-book until a constitutional amendment was adopted authorizing Con- to an income tax. gress levy By an interesting coincidence three great Tennesseeans in the figure most conspicuously income-tax legislation: Benton McMillan was author of the income-tax provision of the Wilson Tariff bill, Mr. Justice Jackson voted with breath almost his last to sustain its constitutionality, and Cordell Hull is father of the present income-tax law, of the part Underwood bill, most assuredly a proud record for the Old Volunteer State. Democratic opinion in the House on the tariff ranged all the way from Beltsljoovcr of Pennsylvania and cer- tain other members who were as much high protectionists as Reed, Dingley, HUITOWS, and Payne to out-and-out free-traders, Tom L. Johnson, William ttourke Cockran, and John DeWirt Wanu-r being the leading lights in that small but select company. The extremists at both ends of the line gave Chairman Wilson much trouble, but the bulk of the Democrats supported him loyally on most items of the bill. What- lie and they wanted was to enact law which would raise sufficient dis- a^tariff revenue, tributing the burden as evenly as possible. He found the road to a tarifl' for revenue only as hard as the Jordan Road to travel. Out of it all, with unfailing courtesy and patience equal to Job's, he got a bill which measurably complied with Democratic desire and expectation. Had Ioy4- wuutu controlled the House of the Fifty-fourth Congress; but alack and alas! the Senate, which was Democratic nomi- of nally by the narrowest marginsreally non-Demo- the worse in almost cratic changed it for every feature, the and, what was more disastrous, Senate did not pass any bill at all until late in August, while the business of the country was going to the dogs by reason of the uncertainty of what would be in the bill when it became a law. Doctor Johnson said in his famous epitaph on Goldsmith that "he touched nothing that he did not adorn," so it may be truly said that the Senate touched no part of the Wilson Tariff bill that it did not injure from the standpoint of men who believed in a tariff for revenue. At that time a full Senate consisted of eighty-eight mem- bers, but there were three vacancies, and so the Senate stood forty-four Democrats, thirty-eight Republicans, and three Farmers' Alliance men. The Democrats had a majority of only three in the Senate, and could also rely on the vote of Vice-President Stevenson. Consequently, about all a Senator, particularly a Democratic Senator, had to do to raise the tariff on any item in which he or his constituents had an interest was to make his demand coupled with a threat, veiled or unveiled, that if he did not secure all he wanted he would vote against the bill. The leaders in that sort of work were Senator Davkl Bennett Hill, of New York, and Senator Arthur Pue Gorman, of Maryland, two of the most astute of mortals and among the most skilful of politicians. They were men of great experience in public affairs, Mill having been mayor of Elmira, a member of the Legislature, Lieuten- ant-Governor and Governor for three terms, as well as a strong contender for the presidential nomination. He who was a of Martin Van mircn, disciple Aaron Burr. had been a United States Senator Gorman Senator for besides held many years, having many minor ofKces in He had been in state and nation. politics all his life, as a Senate secured beginning pagea position through of A, the kindness Stephen Douglas, one of the greatest men of his time, and who has received a very cold deal in in history. Being very prominent the national com-

mittee in 1884, Gorman was accorded the lion's share

of the credit for Cleveland's first election, but subse- their relations became strained a fact quently badly with woe for Democrats. Most Democrats pregnant had in their for a warm place hearts Gorman especially Southern Democrats because they believed that he, more than any other man, had defeated the Force bill which and lie they both hated dreaded. was generally con- sidered of presidential stature. In 1894 Gorman was one of the three handsomest men I ever saw. Me had a Greek head and face, and his mind had all the sinuosi- ties of the Greek intellect. He was in the prime of manly beauty, at the /enith of influence and fame. He was universally regarded as the tactician and svvategist-in- chiefof the Senate Democrats. While not an orator, he was a forceful speaker and a masterful organizer of men. In Maryland ho was supremo. His discomfited enemies clubbed him "Boss" and charged him \\ith being the owner and operator of a mac-hine which In- ran with utter ruthlcssncss; but In- pursued tin- oven tenor of bis way unruffled by their rancor and abuse bland, courteous, kind, successful.

Hill was new to the Senate, but a veteran in politics. He was referred to as a possible, even a probable, Presi- dent. These two men (ionium and I lill joined hands and cuffs whom President L,ieveianci naci endeavored to have defeated for the Senate and Senator James New a with Smith, Jr., of Newark, Jersey, city more industries than other sorts of manufacturing any city in America. Senator Smith was rated as a millionaire manufacturer of patent leather, was engaged in several other kinds of business, employing hundreds of men, and enjoyed the reputation of being generous to his employees Senator Calvin S. and a public-spirited citizen. Brice, of Ohio, and the Louisiana Senators generally co-oper- ated with Gorman, Hill, Smith, and Murphy. Parenthetically I saw and heard Senator Gorman on one occasion, when his conduct and words convinced me by subsequent reflection that he was an exceedingly wise man. While the war with Spain was brewing, every few days some House Democrat would move, or try to move, to recognize the Cuban Republic, or something of the sort. One morning we lacked only thirty-four votes of succeed- ing. Many Republicans were growing restless and un- easy -and in increasing numbers. After the vote was taken certain Republicans came to us and said that unless President McKinley did thus and so in a week eighteen of them at least would vote with us, which would have given us one majority. Such a definite proposition as that on such a serious subject could not be ignored. Somebody carried the news over to the Senate. Just as the House was adjourning that evening a Senate page van in and told Joseph WeMon Bailey, of Texas, Democratic House leader, that the Democratic Senators on the Committee on Foreign Relations were having a meeting in the rooms of Senator Jones of Arkansas, and for him to come over with the Democratic membnrs of flio Hrmsr ("Vimmii-frp nn Krirriim AfFnirs. Senators and five Democratic Representatives met for consultation on the as together important question the House Democrats should to whether join with the House and a resolution disgruntled Republicans pass the Cuban which recognizing Republic meant war. Senator Gorman presided informally. Of the twenty- were in five men present twenty-two unqualifiedly favor on the of the alliance, one was fence, and Gen. Francis Marion Cockrell, of Missouri, who fought valiantly in for the Confederate Army four years, and who bore several honorable scars, bluntly and briefly declared that the was absolutely nonsensical and that he was it. plan against Gorman listened to us all, and wound up the meeting m these words: "I will tell you gentlemen what you are about to do. You arc going to join hands with a lot of sorehead Republicans to force a war upon a President who does not want war a war bound to be ended in a hundred days by the complete triumphs of American arms. All the glory thereof will redound to President McKinley and the Republican administration. People will forget that you Democrats practically forced it, and will give you no credit. The war will furnish the Presi- dent with ten thousand fat offices with which to satisfy Republicans heretofore disappointed as to patronage. The Democratic party will be effaced from the map, and I'll be damned if I will be a party to any such idiocy I" He hit the bull's-eye, and no mistake. During our six- teen years of wandering in the wilderness without manna and without quail 1 often thought of that sententious and prophetic utterance. After sore travail the Senate passed its hill, or, more properly speaking, passed the Wilson bill with several hundred amendments, and sent it hack to us. In clFcet After much lasting many weeks. Aweary waiting, a con- in which at first the ference report was brought House, under the lead of Mr. Chairman Wilson, rejected. More conferring more wrangling. Pending this, Mr. Cleve- "Dishonor and land wrote his celebrated Party Perfidy" (( letter to Chairman Wilson, which rendered confusion worse confounded." Finally the House surrendered to the Senate, "horse, foot, and dragoons," and swallowed the nauseous mess, hook, line, and sinker, most Democrats their a few brave figuratively holding noses, souls, such as Tom L. Johnson, voting against it. The bill was sent to the President, who in high dudgeon declined to sign ir. He sulked for ten days, thereby permitting it to become a law without his signature. Congress loafed during the ten days in order that the bill might become a law, for if the President did not sign it and Congress adjourned before the ten days expired, the bill would fail to become a law. Had Mr. Cleveland signed it promptly when sent to him, at least fifty Democratic Representatives who were defeated by narrow margins of whom I was one would have been re-elected. So soon as the bill became a law times began to improve, and ten days more of improvement would have helped largely at the election. As it was, we had to face a people disheartened by the panic and angry from disappointment. We had to carry the odium of the bad features forced into the bill in the Senate, and had everywhere to meet tbe presi- dential charge that we had acted with "dishonor and party perfidy." The result was inevitable. The Republicans carried every close district such as mine and many which in 1890 and 1892 had given large Democratic majorities. They achieved a sweeping victoiy, converting a big Democratic majority in the House of the Fifty-third AMERICAN POLITICS 339 was also transformed The Senate into a Republican body. the last half of his second So, during term Mr. Cleveland "had on his hands a Congress" Reoublican in both branches. In the retrospect, it seems to me that, had the President and the Congress started out deliberately to turn the back to the government Republicans which of course not could not they did they have devised a plan better than the one pursued. It was inevitable that during the short session of the Fifty-third Congress the Democrats, after such a thor- ough drubbing, should be sore and in wretched humor, wrangling, jangling, snapping, quarreling about anything and everything. As the Breckenridgc-Heard row was the most stormy scene that I witnessed in the Mouse during that short and as men were session, both^ my persona! friends, I to describe it as I saw propose exactly and heard it, premising with the statement that while it was an affair to be regretted all round, Breckinridgc and Heard both acted in such a way as to convince all men of their physical courage and good common sense. It was district day, and Heard, as chairman of the District was Committee, entitled to the right of way. Heard, as a matter of courtesy, yielded to Governor McCrcary of Kentucky, chairman of the Committee on to Foreign Affairs, make a conference report, not to be debated and to consume not over twenty minutes. But, in submitting his report, Mr. Chairman McCrcary made ** ii.. - * Heard exclaimed, "It is better for the House to trans- of the committee act the necessary business than to give the gentleman an opportunity to make a buncombe speech." Breckinridge shouted, "You are a dirty pupl" a d liar!" Heard replied, "You are d Then bedlam broke loose. Every member was on his left his feet in an instant. Colonel Breckinridge seat, walked down the aisle, crossed the area in front of the the Speaker's stand, and started up big aisle toward Heard's seat. Colonel Breckinridge was about five feet ten, stockily built, weighed about two hundred, was very muscular, and not past his prime. His full beard was the color of snow, and his face, always rubicund, was flaming scarlet that morning. He had the finest head of yellowish-white hair in America, and it floated in the breeze like the plume of Navarre. Like a mad bull he was endeavoring to get to the Missourian, who, slender, in his frail, and erect as an Indian, stood place calmly awaiting the infuriated Kentuckian. Heard looks more like a Methodist bishop and talks less like one than any other man in America. I never knew what was going through Heard's head at that trying moment, but as he evidently was no match for Breckinridge in a sluggmg-matcb, and as he clearly meant to meet him, my private opinion always has been, and is now, that he fully intended to stick a knife into his antagonist as soon as he was close enough. Several members interposed. Speaker Crisp was white with rage, and pounded his desk with his gavel so viciously that the head flew off and hit the abdomen of a page, who was the only person damaged in the flesh. Crisp yelled for the sergeant-at-anns. It took several minutes to aiSie >VuS a winning,) OIYIHIII, iiuYvnnj:, mabti the roar rose the sional humanity. ^Abovc Speaker's "The will voice, shouting: sergeant-at-arms arrest those to the bar men and bring them of the House." At last Col Ike Hill seized the mace his badge of "the silver authority nicknamed buzzard" by the irrev- the aisle. erent, and rushed up The most active man he saw was Lafe Pence, of Colorado, who was then not much bigger than Tom Thumb, and who was holding, one of like a bull-terrier, Colonel Breckintidge's huge arms and was being flopped around in the air by the So enraged Kentuckian. Colonel Ike seized Lafe and dragged him down to the bar of the House. Lafe solemnly swore he'd never act as peacemaker again. Finally Breckinridge and Heard were led down to the and asked to Speaker's stand explain matters. Colonel Breckinridge then made his statement, and concluded by saying: "The gentleman from Missouri should retract his remark, so offensive to me, for that cannot stand between the gentleman from Missouri and myself." Colonel Heard made his statement, which he concluded as follows: "I simply did my duty in the matter, which gave offense to the gentleman from Kentucky, and with- out any purpose to slight him or any other individual member. He grossly insulted me, and by his offensive remarks provoked my retort, of which he complains. Believing myself justified in using the language T did, I will never withdraw nor qualify if until he withdraws that which furnished the provocation." Thus it will be seen that their explanations did not explain, and flu-re were still groat gobs of blood on the moon. As everybody knew thai both Hoard and Brock- inritW werr "tlc:id onnic ." :i Kl-n-rr duel w:i rxncrrpd. Dockery and Judge Goodnight, or Kentucky, for that Governor day's work. Also on Colonel Hatch, McCreary, Ashur Caruth, and Speaker Crisp. They_ prevented a a double homicide, shooting-scrape perhaps f While Breckinridge and Heard went on with their routine duties, the above-named gentlemen held peace confer- after ences in the Speaker's room, and, considering al! the facts, circumstances, and language, it was agreed that Mr. Speaker Crisp should prepare a statement of the matter. This he did with such skill, friendliness, and the judicial fairness that both belligerents accepted it like men and without a murmur. In pursuance of the arrangement and program effected by Speaker Crisp, Dockery, McCreary, and others, late in the afternoon, Colonel Breckinridge arose and made a most graceful and happy speech, "asking pardon of the House, including the gentleman from Missouri." It was handsomely done, amid universal applause. Heard as handsomely responded, as generously retracted, and was as warmly applauded. At the conclusion of his remarks he went over to Breckinridge's seat, and Breckinridge met him in the aisle, where they cordially shook hands. Heard said, "Billy, when men's beards get as gray as yours and mine, they ought to have more sense than to quarrel like boys." "Yes, John," replied Breckinridge, "but it sometimes seems to me that the grayer we get the less sense we have." In this happy manner entirely honorable to both ended a decidedly ugly quarrel. Somebody moved that all reference to the trouble he omitted from The Record, and it was so ordered. Thus Peace spread her white wings over the House, and all was again lovely and serene.

i nf npvt- rlav it crt K-mr^imrl rli-it- -ilmnt uvular t the fashion ot out his hands alter Reverend Doctor his in dramatic manner com- Chadband blessing people, The House broke into a roar of manded the peace. and War smoothed laughter and applause, "grim-visagcd front." her wrinkled CHAPTER XIII

Gorman, Cleveland, Vest, Harris, Jones, Wilson, Hill, Rrcckenridge, and Others Free Documents Pensions.

senatorial leaders always claimed DEMOCRATICthat they secured by their amendments, not all the tariff reform they wanted, but all that was possible under Senator Hill the peculiar circumstances. placed his op- on the position to the Tariff bill avowedly ground of the income-tax feature. He offered, if that were eliminated, to join heartily with his brother Democratic Senators in making the best tariff bill possible, but so long as that was retained he would fight it to the end and he did. It was retained, and he never did vote for it. Hamilcar, so the histories relate, took his young son Hannibal and made him swear, with his hand on the altar, eternal enmity to Rome. From Senator Hill's words and acts it may be fairly assumed that lie had sworn eternal en- mity to the income tax. His defection reduced the Democratic voting strength on the Tariff bill in the Senate to forty-three precisely the number required to pass a bill. Cleveland's friends claimed that Hill's opposition to the bill grew out of his animosity to the President. Their feud was entirety personal, and was as bitter as that of Blame and Conkling. Just how it began nobody appears to know. Here are some admitted facts which throw some light on the vexed and vexing subject. In 1882 Cleveland and Hill ran on the same ticket for uuui wcic VU.-ULCU eiiuimous spectiveiy. uy majorities, led Cleveland about but Hill by eight thousand votes. that that The chances are apparently insignificant fact, at the in their hearts the little noted time, planted seeds of mutual hatred. When Cleveland became President in succeeded him us and remained in 1885, Hill Governor, election until the first that position by day of January, to take his seat in the Senate. His term in 1892, the Senate began technically March 4, 1891, but he so thor- the oughly detested Lieutenant-Governor, Jones (of He the "Jones: pays freight" fame), who would have become Governor had he resigned sooner, that he clung to the governorship until his regularly elected successor was inaugurated. In 1888 Cleveland, Democratic nomi- nee for President, lost New York, and with it the Presi- dency, by fourteen thousand votes, while Mill was re- elected Governor of New York by nineteen thousand plurality. Thus was fuel added to the flames. Cleveland's friends loudly asserted that Mill had knifed him, and many ot them believe it to this day, though Hill said repeatedly during the campaign that if either he or Cleveland had to he defeated, let it be himself. In 1892 both Cleveland, then a private citizen, and

Hill, a United States Senator, were candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination. The New York Democratic State Committee called a convention to meet at Albany February 221!, to select delegates to the Chicago National Convention, and the delegates were instructed for Hill and to vote under the unit rule. I have always thought that the outstandinjr feature of that state convention was that Governor-Senator Hill, in his speech of thanks, quoted the opening lines of Cardinal fninnnc Inrmtv "T r>-i/1 I^in/Mi/ T itrlit- -unirl but The members were never seated, they talked a great ; in deal, thereby ?. ding materially nominating Cleveland the only man ever nominated for President without the vote of his own state. All men knew that Senator Hill was a masterful tac- tician, strategist, and organizer, but nobody expected him to become one of the most powerful debaters in the Senate, and yet that was precisely what he did. David B. Hill was one of the most masterful politicians the Empire State ever produced. Being a bachelor, he devoted his whole life to law and politics in about equal proportions, and succeeded in both fields. While not an Apollo Belvedere, he was a good-looking man, about five feet seven or eight inches tall, weighing about one hundred and sixty-five, with jet-black hair, mus- tache, and eyes, and olive complexion. He was very bald, which, strange to say, did not make him look old. He was graceful in action, gracious in manner, with a countenance of unusual shrewdness. He was a bitter fighter, which was demonstrated when, after long con- tests, he defeated two of Mr. Cleveland's New York nominees for positions on the Supreme Bench, claiming boldly and bluntly that they were not good Democrats. "It's an ill wind that blows good to nobody." President Cleveland grew weary of nominating New-Yorkers for Senator Hill to butcher, so he nominated Senator Edward D. White, of Louisiana, now the revered and well-beloved Chief Justice of the Supreme Covirt of the United States. During the long-drawn-out fight on the conference re- port on the Tariff bill, I witnessed a most thrilling and dramatic scene in the Senate a hot trial of a question of veracity betwixt President Cleveland on the one side and Senators Gorman, Harris, Vest, Jones of Arkansas, that no bill When it became apparent except the Senate be Senators and Voor- bill could passed, Jones, Harris, to have interviewed hees claimed President Cleveland of the and Secretary Treasury Carlisle, recognized as tariff reformer in and to the head America, have sub- to and that mitted the case them, they both advised the of the Senate acceptance proposed amendments rather bill than to get no Tariff at all. Senator Vest did not claim to have interviewed Cleve- that would land, but vowed he never have agreed to the Senate amendments had he not been assured that they were acceptable to the President and to Mr. Secretary Carlisle. So, believing these men had helped add the Senate amendments to the House bill. On August I9th the bill was still in conference. On that day Mr. Chair- man Wilson had read in the House the President's famous

"Party Dishonor and Perfidy" letter, dated August 2cl, in which hot shot was poured into the Senate Democrats for placing in the bill the Senate amendments which the aforementioned Senators vehemently asserted that the President and Secretary Carlisle had agreed to accept. The President's letter, and the claims of the Senators as to what he and Carlisle had said to them, raised a ques- tion of veracity. So on August 23(1 Senator Gorman delivered a most scathing and scorching speech about the bad faith or lac-k of veracity of the President. It was vehement, caustic, and blistering. In the midst of it he called on Senators Vest, Harris, and Jones to cor- roborate his statements, which they did promptly with most astounding emphasis. It was a most remarkable performance. In his speech the great: Maiylandcr referred to Senator Hill as playiupi the vole of la^o. The next clay Senator

H;il K: : i i -n: ...i : c ,1,,. nut " made of "Macbeth m their famous debate. Senator Hill I have thus said: "Mr. President, discharged my duty Senator from from my standpoint. The Maryland yes- as the of terday started to describe me lago Shakespeare, and then he withdrew the comparison. That reminds me of the senatorial conspiracy of years ago in the Roman Senate, when a senatorial cabal conspired to assassinate If I the great Roman emperor. were disposed to make comparisons I might speak of the distinguished Senator from Maryland as the Mean and hungry Cassius.' [Laughter.] You recollect what Caesar said of him. He said, 'He thinks too much; such men are dangerous.' [Laughter.] "I might speak of the Senator from Arkansas [Mr. Jones] as Marcus Brutus 'honest Brutus/ Right here I want to say a word. During alt the tariff debate, dur- ing all the preparation of this bill, that Senator has exhibited most wonderful patience and sagacity; he has treated every citizen and every Senator with the greatest respect. No matter how this debate may terminate, no matter whether this bill passes or not, I say the Senator from Arkansas and in paying this compliment I do not discriminate against any one else has won the esteem and respect of his countrymen everywhere. I will call him 'honest Brutus.' Cassius I have already referred to. [Laughter.] Casca was the distinguished Senator who struck the first blow last Friday [Mr. Vest]. Trebonius, the Senator from Indiana [Mr. Voorhees] testy, prob- ably a little petulant 'good Trebonius.' Mctellus Cim- ber, the distinguished Senator from Tennessee [Mr. Harris], [Laughter.] "Mr. President, when yesterday they stabbed at our President and sought to strike him down, they made not that love their Rome more; they President less, but their and this that they love party Senate bill more. I can with Mark [Laughter.] say Antony:

"What private griefs they have, alas, I know not, That made them do it; they tire wise and honorable."

and on the floor and in (Laughter applause the galleries.) Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, whose profession, as stated by him in his autobiography in The Congressional is in Directory, is "Literature," much the habit of adorn- with from the ing his speeches quotations poets. While in the House, in a. bitterly contested election case from Alabama lie said, among other things: "We have testi- mony, for instance, in the city of Sclma, that nine men voted who were not there. Most of them were dead. We know, sir, on the highest literary authority that

"In the most high ;\tul palmy state of Rome, A little ere the mightiest Julius fell, The gravi-s stood temuuless, and the sheeted dead Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets.

The sheeted dead did much better than that in Sclma, Alabama they voted." Farther along, commenting on the fact that a man named Elam was recorded as voting, though he w;is mur- dered some months before, the Senator made tins pat quotation : "Tin- time Ins boon

That when the brains went out the man would die, And there an end. lint now they rise jipain, With CwcMfv ni(ii-r:il titnrrtiTv MM f-liciV rrnti-nc WILLIAM L, WILSON

fashion of The French had a confirmed nicknaming their kings. Charles Martel means Charles the Ham- mer; Charlemagne, Charles the Great; Louis the Ninth the is always Saint Louis; Louis Fourteenth, Le Grand Monarque; Louis the Sixteenth, Louis the Locksmith, and Louis the Eighteenth, Louis the Hog. Then there were Charles the Bold, Charles the Fat, Charles the Mad, Charles the Simple, Charles the Bald, Charles the Wise, Charles the Victorious, John the Good, the Louis the Pious, and Louis the Lion. Philip Fair, " The first of the Bonapartes is the Last of the Caesars," the "Little Corporal," the "Man of Destiny," and "Napoleon the Great," while Victor Hugo, in order to even up things in history with Louis Napoleon for the butchery of December, whereby he overthrew the Re- public and established the Second Empire, dubbed him "Napoleon the Little." Of all the titles ever bestowed upon a French ruler, that most to be desired is the one given to Louis the Fif- teenth of "Louis Bien Aime" "Louis the Well Beloved." William L. Wilson was the well beloved, indeed the best beloved, in the House of the Fifty-third Congress. He was chairman of the great Committee on Ways and Means and therefore ex-officio Democratic floor leader. If he had an enemy on the whole face of the earth, I never heard of it. I don't see how he could have. Brave

as a lion, he was gentle as a woman. In his youth a gnl- lant soldier of the Confederacy, he never alluded to that bloody and heroic chapter in our annals. Most assuredly he did not belong to that large and constantly increasing army of heroes, "invisible in war and invincible in peace." With fame world-wide, he was as unassuming as the ms to of avarice by prostituting mgn position personal was still when he died, and had not Mr. gain, he poor into his Cleveland taken him official family, after ten of most distinguished service in he would years Congress, have been compelled to begin his law practice over again of West in the mountains Virginia. Since the long agony of Garfield, the sickness of no man has produced such widespread sympathy as that of and the chairman of Ways Means. A sympathi/ing nation watched by his bedside in spirit when he was at death's door in a foreign land. Since Blame met his Waterloo in November, 1884, the defeat of no candidate has created such universal sorrow as did Wilson's. In hundreds of thousands of homes It was not only regarded as a public calamity, hut as a personal bereavement. Twice in his career Mr. Wilson's experience has dem- onstrated that defeat for ofiice is sometimes a blessing in disguise, as in each instance he was promoted just as the purblind politicians who gerrymandered William McKinlcy out of a seat in Congress helped considerably in making him President. Years ago Wilson was beaten for the nomination for Circuit judge by Charles James Faulkner, afterward United States Senator from West Virginia. Soon after that mishap he was sent to Congress. Mad he succeeded in securing a place upon the woolsack no doubt he would have made an able and upright judge, but his reputation would have been circumscribed to a comparatively small area. After the rarifi" barons boodlrd his district he was elevated to tin; (Jabinei, the most popvilar of ;ill Mv. Cleveland's appoinimenis. Mr. Wilson enjoyed the peculiar distinction of being i ,-,/!, ,-,, ,^r ,,1,1 v;,.,,;,,;., 11,,; ;,., . .u , both the declined the presidency of University of Missouri In this and the University of Texas. regard his career of resembles and eclipses those John Quincy Adams, Edward Everett, and James A. Garfield. After going out of the Cabinet, he became president of Washington and Lee University, and died in that high position. It would have been nothing but fair for Missouri to have taken Mr. Wilson for her own, as she has contributed to West Virginia's roll of statesmen two Governors- and four Senators of Jacob and MacCorkle the United States Hereford, Kenna, Elkins, and Sutherland. Mr. Wilson had one of the most wonderful memories since the ever possessed by any human being days of Cyrus the Great, who is said to have known the name of every man in his vast armies. I do not believe that astounding tale about Cyrus. It is too much for human credulity. Among Mr. Wilson's most precious keepsakes was a small gold watch, presented to him when a child at a Baptist Sunday-school, as a prize for committing to mem- ory the entire Book of Proverbs. As a task in mnemonics I would rather undertake to memori'/c the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and all the Epistles. Somebody once sagely remarked that the dictionary was a very in- teresting work, but that "it changed subjects too often." That's precisely the difficult}' with King Solomon's Proverbs when one undertakes to learn them by heart. If any person who is proud of his memory doubts the truth of this, let him try it. In personal appearance Mr. Wilson was much more the profound scholar than the ideal statesman. Slender, graceful, not above the middle stature, with an exqui- sitely shaped head, a Greek nose, a handsome, genial, out in a been picked any assembly by judge of human of mental nature as a man great capacity and of highest see him intelligence. To pitted against "the Big One" as from Maine, he frequently was, always reminded me and of the story of David Goliath. Wilson was as learned, as witty, and as humorous as Reed. He was more eloquent. Reed wielded the battle- the Damascus blade. ax; Wilson, He prepared his with care and them speeches greater polished more In he was more in highly. delivery pleasing, manner far more gracious and captivating. The only reason why so many of his mots and repartees are not quoted is that by reason of his tenderness of heart he could not make up his mind to say a thing that hurt, while Reed had no sort of hesitancy in breaking bones. On the contrary, he delighted in seeing the wounded kick and flutter. I have frequently witnessed Mr. Wilson speaking under I great provocation, hut never heard him make but one sharp, biting, personal retort on his tormentors, and, such was his unconquerable amiability, that he stopped and recalled it instantiM'. The dramatic clement in oratory affects an audience perhaps more than any other. The greatest oratorical tournament this world ever saw was during the impeach- ment of Warren Hastings. As a fitting climax to his spectacular speech, Sheridan managed to fall back in a fainting fit into the arms of Edmund Burke. Mr. Wilson was above any such his- trionic trick as that; hut at the conclusion of his closing speech on the original Wilson Tariff bill, before the sena- torial artists had so carved it that its sponsors disowned it, there happened one of the most dramatic scenes ever on men SHUUIUUIJ* brilliant West-Virginian very much carried him in triumph to the against his willand cloak- of the members and room, amid the plaudits the shouts of the galleries. for Wilson and the That was a great day country- deserves to and that triumphal procession live on immor- tal canvas. sensitive. Isador He \vas exceedingly Strauss, \vho his death on the went so gallantly to Titanic, served in the and House of the Fifty-third Congress, loved Wilson as incident in a brother, told me this 1912: He said that Wilson had worn himself out in his long and nerve-rack- the Tariff and when he ing labors on bill, learned that President Cleveland was sore displeased with the results he broke down utter!)', placed his arms on the table and his head on his amis, and cried like a child. Here was this delicately built man, who had faced death on a score of battle-fields from the first Manassas to Appomattox with unflinching courage, weeping copious tears because was not satisfied with what he his political chief had clone, when as a mutter of fact he had done the best: he could under the circumstances, :md with the men whose votes

he had to have in order to pass any TarilV bill at all. I

haven't even a shadow of doubt that bis toil on that ill-

starred bill and the pronounced disapproval with which it met, as evidenced by his own do fear and the slaughter of his friends, rained his health and hastened his death for he was still a 3'ouiig man when he went to join his fathers. " The question is often asked, Do speeches ever change votes in Congress?" Since tin: sun set that day I have been prepared to answer that (juesiioii emphatically in the aHirmativL'. Thai thirty minutes' speech, and the indescribable and cnntamuus enthusiasm it enirendcred. model, roll orators, as a wnen me was being called, as certain names were pronounced by the clerk and die were DeWitt the responses "aye/' John Warner, great to "An free-trader, said me, hour ago those men had no more idea of voting for that bill than flying." On that occasion Mr. Wilson had every conceivable motive to nerve him to the supreme effort of his life ambition, rivalry, patriotism, love of truth, as fine an audience as the most fastidious could desire, and the cer- the next his words tainty that morning would be pub- in lished in every great daily printed the English language. Expectation was great, and the expectation was fully realized, for he spoke as one inspired. In that half-hour he established the high-water mark for eloquence, both for himself and the House of Representatives.

POPULAR DELUSION AS TO PUBLIC DOCUMENTS

The government of the United States is the most extravagant that ever was or ever will be on earth chiefly because this is the richest nation under the sun. Among other things, it maintains the biggest and best- equipped printing-oiHce known among men since Guten- berg invented movable types. Most persons believe that a Representative or Senator can get all the books, documents, speeches, and govern- ment publications he wants free which is absolutely incorrect. Of books, documents, etc., each Representa- tive has a certain quota, and no more usually twenty- six. A Senator's quota is considerably larger. So far as speeches made in tin* II oust- or Senate art- concerned, the government prints them in the daily Congressional Record, of which each Repvt-seniaiive has fifty-one placed and it is Printing Office or elsewhere, considerably cheaper as the to have them printed elsewhere, Government Print- on a basis of ten cent, net ing Office figures per profit to first term a certain the government. During my editor, even in own not in my own district, not my state, wrote thousand me asking that I send him ten copies of another was so as man's long speech. He ignorant to believe that the government prints speeches free. I declined, on the ground that they would cost at least one hundred dollars and that I was too poor to afford it. I explained in as kind a manner the whole thing to him as possible, but it made a mortal enemy of him and he has never to assail or slander me since. lost an opportunity He is now holding a fat Federal job 1 Of all the books ever published by the government, The Horse Book was the most popular. It is now out of a lawsuit reason of print. I once gained by having read that book. A man drove a livery-stable horse to death and declined to pay for him. I brought suit for the liveryman, and we tried the case before a justice of the peace, where, as the saying is, "everything goes." The of the defense was that the horse died bots. It is gen- erally believed that bots eat through the walls of a horse's stomach and kill him; but The Horse Book says that all horses raised in the country, and over three years old, have bots, which do them no harm. As soon as the horse dies, however, they eat through the walls of the stomach. Hence the popular fallacy that bots kill horses. I read that chapter to the jury, thereby securing a verdict for my client. During my first year in Congress I had an experience about the Agricultural Year-Boohs which cost me several good dollars and cut my wisdom teeth on that subject

1 nun n^vor rn^irl nnr> in mv lifp T tnolf nc were flat, stale, and unprofitable dry as a powder-house, to be used as a a sure cure for fit only soporific, insomnia. that a It so happens Representative's quota of the Year- of all Books is the largest books nine hundred and ninety- the I four. As tutored by newspapers, regarded the Year- Books as a nuisance, never dreaming that anybody actually wanted them. So I told my secretary to send them to the first nine hundred and ninety-four farmers he could think of which he did. Then I had a sad and sudden awakening. I began to receive requests for them. I went down to a second-hand-book store and bought copies to supply the demand, which continued until I purchased four hundred. I then bought one for myself and read it. To my utter surprise I found it what Horace Greeley called "very interesting reading.'' Since that expen- sive experience I keep my quota of the Agricultural Year-Book in stock until they are called for, and I read them religiously. Once upon a time an amusing thing to the public, an aggravating thing to Col. R. II. Uodine, then Represent- ative in Congress from the Second Missouri District, happened to him, touching Chickens bulletins. The Agri- cultural Department issued a bulletin on chickens, illus- trated with fine pictures of a trio of every known breed of chickens. Colonel UotUne distributed his quota of bulletins to the housewives of his bailiwick. One of his constituents, Major Henry A. Newman, was an incorrigi- ble joker, a political enc-nij' to Bodine. So he informed the people that the pictures of the chickens in the bulletin were pictures of the chickens which the government was distributing free, and all they had 10 do to secure a trio of any breed desired was to wriic Colonel Kodine, who would promptly and gladly send on the poultry. The the jump for several weeks, writing letters explaining that the government was not engaged in the free coinage of he had no chickens poultry, and that tnerefore to send them. The situation was growing tense and serious, when it leaked out that Major Newman was at the bottom of the scheme. Then the whole thing ended in a loud guf- faw throughout the district. Incidentally, and as a palpable non seguitur, it may be stated that the bulletins of the Agricultural Department are among the most popular of government publications. If when I first came to Congress I had known that I was destined to remain in the House half a lifetime, and had preserved all the queer letters I have received, pub- as lishing them in a book precisely they were written, they would have made a unique and interesting volume. Some of the requests are amazing. Most of the things printed in The Congressional Record^ or as public documents or in book shape, are valuable if they could only be delivered to the persons interested in the subjects treated. Of course the privilege of printing in The Congressional Record and in the shape of docu- ments and books is abused. One of the most glaring abuses was in printing the so- called Jefferson Bible in full red Turkey morocco. Of this document each Representative's quota was twenty- six. I had at least two thousand requests for it. People were led to believe, by the hullaballoo in the newspapers, that it was a newly discovered book written on the sub- ject of religion by Thomas Jefferson, touching whose religious opinions there is an unending controversy. But lie never wrote a word of this so-cnllod Jefferson Bible. What he did do was to cut all the sayings of Jesus out of a Greek Testament, a Latin Testament, a French Testa- .] L T he that what said did that was, said, Jesus was all right, and but that the apostles disciples muddled it. Any one who could read the four languages could have duplicated and the Bible could be his performance, Jefferson of no one who could not sort of use to any read the four lan- aforementioned. order of the guages By House, how- as a document. In ever, it was printed public the upper left-hand corner of the wrapper, in great block type, were words: "The Morals of printed these Jesus, by Thomas f IV " Jefferson. An aggravating feature was that if you put a dozen in the mail without copies registering them, you were fortunate if half readied those for whom they were intended. For a long time I was opposed to members printing in The Record words, editorials, articles, and speeches not delivered in the House; but I finally changed my mind on that subject. I concluded that it was preferable to let them be printed rather than be compelled to listen to them. Another reason why I changed my opinion in this matter is that some speeches of much value, printed in The Congressional Record, were never delivered in Con- gress, the most remarkable case perhaps being the famous Silver speech of John G. Carlisle, most frequently quoted of all his speeches. I U- wrote it in the quietude of his library and inserted it in The Record under "a blanket leave to print" granted to all members on a particular bill.

LIBERALITY AND MISTAKFN J'UUI.IC Ol'INION AS TO PENSIONS

The Federal government is the most liberal one on the f,, r *i ,i, : :... .,.,: 1:1 .1 refuses to maintain a large suuuimg -.umy must nave a liberal pension system for her volunteer soldiers. that a A great many people believe large percentage of the men drawing pensions are not entitled to them. No doubt there are some, but after twenty-five years in an to one official position, which tends make familiar with the that the facts, I am of the opinion number drawing so pensions who are not doing rightfully is somewhat exaggerated. Appearances are frequently deceptive- decidedly so in this matter as in many others. So are the records. It is said that "an open confession is good for the soul." I am willing to make one. Prior to entering Congress I had never paid any attention to the pension question. I had so often heard it said that a large percentage of pensions should not be allowed that naturally I believed it. Consequently, as soon as I was elected I began to save up material for an anti-pension speech, which mate- rial I have yet unused and never to be used. I went to Washington, kept my ears open, listened to the discus- sion of private pension bills, and discovered, very much to my surprise, that the beneficiaries of most of the bills were entitled to pensions, but were shut out by some technicality. For instance, the law then provided for a service of ninety days. Of course there had to be a general rule on the subject, and the rule read ninety days. It happened that an entire battalion, recruited in my district, served eighty-nine days. Now I defy anybody to show any substantial reason why an eighty-nine days' man was not as much entitled to a pension as a ninety days' man the cases being on all-fours in other respects. That's an example of how a deserving soldier might be shut out by technicalities. I observed other facts of similar tenor, and began to examine with an open mind merit in the claim I where there was attended to it, and have several old soldiers and soldiers' by so doing kept widows out of the almshouse and have ameliorated the condition of many more and of many orphan children I ask for all of which nobody's pardon. are some Here intercsting^and enlightening experiences which I have had. At Louisiana, Missouri, lived an ex- soldier of the Civil War, named Frederick Wiseman. He was over six feet in his stockings, weighed over two hun-

dred, and appeared perfect physically. He was ns fine a of man for his specimen physical age, apparently, as could be found. He was drawing a small pension and asked me to secure an increase. One day I met him on the street, and he said: "You think that because I am a smashing- there's big man that nothing the matter with me, hut I am so badly ruptured on both sides that I hardly ever walk the few blocks from my home to my office, or back to again, without being compelled dodge out of sight to arrange my truss." I investigated his statement and found it to be absolutely true. Then the only question to be settled was whether his rupture was of service

origin. One day in the long ago, when I was a candidate for the first office I ever held city attorney of Louisiana, Missouri I was down at the Chicago & Alton R. R. depot, and was introduced to Tom Folwell as ''Captain" Folwell, who was working on the section. I noticed that he had a bad squint in one eye. When my friend who had introduced us and I got out of car-shot, I inquired why he called Folwell captain. "Because he was a cap- tain, and what's more he is one of the real heroes of the Civil War." Then he told me that Folwull was the first man who took -,v transport past Vicksburg, and that hit the timbers to port a cannon-ball it, knocking pieces, and that a splinter hit Folweil in the eye, giving it that For the permanent squint. many years injury simply his disfigured him without damaging eyesight, but as he grew older he began to go blind in that eye. During my was early service in Congress he advised by a "mutual friend" to ask my assistance in securing him a pension; but in that far-away day political lines were sharply drawn in Missouri. I was a Democratic Congressman and Captain Folweil was a stanch Republican, and his reply to our friend's kindly suggestion was that there was no use in applying to me, because he knew that I would do nothing for him. I kept on going to Congress, and his eye, together with his health, got worse and worse. So, after I had been in Congress several years he wrote me asking that I introduce a special bill for him, which I did gladly, because I believed he was honestly entitled to it; but it was too late. I secured the passage of the bill through the House, but he died before it could be passed through the Senate. If Captain Folweil had served under Napoleon and had performed such a feat as he performed at Vicksburg, he would have been decorated with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor. In Bowling Green, Missouri, lived an old soldier named Preston, a plasterer by trade, who had been a private in an Illinois regiment. He was an intense Republican, possessed a considerable gift of speech, and during cam- paigns would make political speeches in the small towns and school-houses. To him all Democrats particularly myself were anathema. He laid on and spared not; but as old age came creeping on him he began to go blind. He applied to the Pension Office for a pension, and was refused. Here was his case: At Resaca, or Kenesaw Tv/T,, to which Federals. The brigade Preston belonged was in ordered to lie down order to escape injury. While he his stomach a shell was lying on exploded above him and of it made a bad wound in his a piece raking hip, tearing the bone. the flesh and fracturing Hence his failing vision. The Pension Office doctors, however, declared there was no possible connection between a wound in his his hip and eyesight, and laughed him to scorn. So he came to me as a dernier ressort, notwithstanding his ver- bal assaults upon me in his stump speeches. He related his story as I have given it above, and, knowing very I little about anatomy, told him that I agreed with the Pension Office doctors that his hip injury was in no way responsible for his blindness. He asked me if I would believe what Doctor Reynolds, the oldest physician in town, also the leading Republican, would say. I in- dicated my faith in any diagnosis Doctor Reynolds would make. So we went to sec him. He was a plain, blunt man of wide experience and positive opinions. He "cussed" the Pension Office doctors through all the colors of the rainbow as a job lot of ignoramuses, swore that Preston's blindness was caused by the nervous shock of the shell-wound in his hip, and promptly made affidavit to that (-fleet. Two other local physicians did the same thing. I took the affidavits, and when the Congress opened I introduced a private bill for him. One day I sat down by Gen. David li. Henderson, a splendid gentleman of Iowa, subsequently Speaker of the House. Ho was just out of a hospital, when- a section of his leg had been ampu- tated. He gave mo his experience. At Corinth a rifle- ball went through his ankle, and the amputation was made a few inches alum- ihci wound. Necrosis of the ms at the as to whether they woum amputate leg hip. that idea because joint, but abandoned ninety per cent, of those upon whom that operation is performed die of the second the shock the hip-joint being largest nerve center in the body. General Henderson's statement con- correctness of firmed me in the belief of the Doctor Rey- out and nolds's diagnosis. I went got Preston's bill I was to call it reported. The very morning going up for a from Doctor passage I received telegram Reynolds before Preston had saying that the night suddenly died which vindicated his of total paralysis diagnosis of the case. there lived a Union In my hometown ^soldier named scar across his face Foley, who had a long, deep and the was a upper part of his nose. He painter by tradean industrious man. When he was nearly sixty he began a on the to go blind. He applied for pension ground that the cut on his face which he alleged was made by a Confederate saber was the cause of his failing eyesight. The Pension Office rejected his claim by reason of the fact that he had no hospital record. He came to me to secure the passage of a private pension bill for him. I told him why the Pension Office turned him down. He said, "I was never in a hospital in my life. When I received this saber wound I was a healthy young chap, twenty years old, serving in a Pennsylvania cavalry regi- ment in the Army of the Potomac. One day a lieutenant took about twenty of us on a scouting expedition. We encountered a squad of Stuart's cavalry and had a battle out in the woods, in which I was slashed across the face by a saber. The lieutenant had taken a course of medi- cal lectures, had been a clerk in a drug-store, and carried a small pocket-case of scissors, needles, etc., as first aids to the injured. As soon as the skirmish ended he washed the doctors call first and by what intention, I never service on account lost even a day's of it." I told him a fine if that that was very story, he could prove it. He what evidence was I Inquired necessary. replied that it would be necessary to produce the affidavit of the lieu- tenant, if he were living, and if possible the affidavits of two members of the squad. He declared that that would be difficult, as he had lived in the West for thirty years and had heard nothing of his companions in arms, but that he would try. In less than two months he secured the affidavits of two privates and of the lieutenant, who was then a practising physician out in Kansas. With these affidavits, together with the affidavits of three that his reputable physicians growing blindness was caused by the saber cut, I secured the passage of a for the old private bill man's relief. One of the most difficult things to do in Congress is to have the charge of desertion removed from a soldier's record. Nobody has any respect for a deserter nobody should have. Union and Confederate soldiers in Con- forces in bills gress join fighting to remove charges of desertion. A case has to be made us clear as crystal to appeal to them. There is no other charge which a soldier so angri y resents. Many soldiers, however, at the close of the war stood on the rolls marked as deserters who were really not deserters. When absent on roll-call absence unexplained they were noted as deserters by the orderly sergeants, ami they remained in that status where the orderly sergeants were la/y or cart-less. There are two ways by which to remove such charges. First, the Secretary of War may do it in certain cases, if he wishes so to do. In cases perfectly plain he generally does so. Second, in all cases Congress can remove the UUI . IL^I mu William u. McLean was my B menu. YVhen he asked me to I first entered the House look after his which I did, and which the pension claim, Pension on the that there wore three Office rejected ground charges him. Then I ed to of desertion against appl the Secre- to remove the charges which he tary of War refused to a bill for do. Then I introduced private his relief. At the was the end of twenty years charge removed by Act of Congress. Here is McLean's story: A green Scotch lad, he about the of the landed in America beginning Civil War, served four and promptly enlisted, years, and, as the facts a soldier. ultimately proved, was good The way the three charges of desertion happened to stand against him was this: He was sent to a hospital because of wounds or sickness. As soon as he was able to got out lie did not but hunt up his old regiment, promptly enlisted in the In that he served first that came along. way four years, but in four different regiments. Because he did not know arms it where his companions in lived, was extremely difficult, well-nigh impossible, to verify his story; but his record finally it was accomplished, was cleared of the three charges of desertion, and he was granted a pension which ought to have been granted a score of years be- that he was entitled to fore, as there was ample proof it, in by reason of injuries received the line of duty, I hope that "Mac" will live many years to enjoy his stipend; but he enjoys more Uaviug lus military record cleared than he does his pension. It will surprise many persons to know that the Pension Office, instead of winking at fraudulent claimants, is on the constant lookout for them. If there is any doubt in a case a pension is never granted until by investigation the claim is ascertained 10 be iust. If after a ncnsion is to the pensioner's neighborhood gather all the informa- and if the of tion possible, preponderance evidence is the he is from his against pensioner separated pension. aware that citizens I am fully many good never heard of and believe that the Pension Office in all this, puts a large of its time encouraging claimants in part unworthy getting on the rolls, but I have stated the plain and exact truth the to the about it, skeptics contrary notwithstanding, at it. I know I I am not guessing whereof speak. In my county a man drew a pension for several years of varicose veins. by reason One of his comrades got mad with him and tipped the Pension Office off to the fact that his disease was not of "service origin," but ante- dated his enlistment -which, if true, barred him. A was sent out to special pension agent investigate, and upon his report the man's name was struck from the roster of pensioners. His neighbors appealed to me to have the case reopened, stating that he was a thoroughly honest man, in bad condition by reason of his varicose veins, which they declared were of service origin. At my request, incorporating their statement, the Pension Office reopened the case, sent another special agent, who reinvestigatt'd the- case with the same result separation from the pension roll.

I had a neighbor from Kast Tennessee, named I loney- cutt, who drew a pension for more than a quarter of a century, and then c.ime. to grief. His casr is another illustration of the ancient saying thai "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." In .in evil hour for himself, he sued his old wife for a divorce, whereupon she promptly informed the Pension Hurra u that her husband had served two years in the (.W'rderaic Army prior to his service in the I'nion Arnn-, and ihriefotv was not entitled his wife vice origin." Most assuredly played even. She Lord who " evidently agreed with Byron, said, Sweet is revenge!" And he ought to have known, for he was one of the most revengeful of mortals. In my district there was an old soldier almost stone- as had a blind. He was as poor Lazarus, large family, and was a charge on the community. He applied for a pension, and of course his neighbors, upon whose charity were anxious for him to he and his family lived, get it; have none of but the Pension Bureau would him, deciding after thorough investigation that his blindness was not of his of service origin, but the result own gross immorality subsequent to his discharge from the army. The district which I represent is inhabited by many old Union soldiers and many old Confederates much as the Englishman takes his ale, "'alf and 'alf." There is absolutely no animosity between them. The soldiers of the Civil War discovered years and years ago what cer- tain lachrymose orators and writers are just finding out at this late day, that this is in very truth a reunited country. It may surprise some of the haystack brigade, whose skins and homes were safe during the war between the states and who still nurse their hatred, that in almost every case where a Union soldier writes me to secure him a pension or have his pension increased his ex-Confed- erate neighbor also writes asking me to do all in my power to aid his Union-soldier friend. They seem to take pleasure in doing so. Most assuredly, so far as the old soldiers are concerned, "the war is over." Those who paid close attention to the debate on the Army bill at the beginning of our war with Germany may have noted that I was somewhat responsible for carrying an amendment preventing substitutes or buy- and disgraceful thing. The amendment was patriotic Carl of offered by Representative Hayden, Arizona. I him secure its as a helped adoption by making vigorous as I five-minute speech knew how. Why I took so much interest in Hayden 's amendment was that one of wrote me to him a my constituents get pension for the amazing reason that his substitute was killed in battle! he is still Suffice it to state that pensionless. The recol- lection of that astounding experience caused me to back I was determined that future up Hayden. Representa- tives should not be pestered about pensions for men who send substitutes, and that the rich and poor should fare alike in this war.

You I. 21 CHAPTER XIV

The Fifty- fourth a Do-notliing CongressHenderson Polling the House- Tammany speed) Doctor English Underwood.

/CONGRESSES during whose life presidential elec- \~s tions are held rarely transact much business. They are devoted chiefly to politics. The Fifty-fourth \vas no exception to that rule. It is narrated by a more or less veracious chronicler that when Thomas Brackett Reed was nominated by the Republican caucus for Speaker of the House in that Congress, in his speech of acceptance he naively re- marked: "The Fifty-first Congress is famous for what it did do, while the Fifty-fourth will be notable for what it does not do!" Had Speaker Reed been all the major prophets rolled into one, he could not have made a more exact prediction; for it did nothing except mere routine work, such as passing appropriation bills. No doubt he was supremely happy on that occasion. In the Fifty-first Congress he defeated William McKin- ley for the Spcakership nomination by only two votes, and was elected by only a few more. In that Congress his career in die chair was one of storm and stress. In the caucus of the Fifty-fourth he was nominated by unanimous vote to him a most gratifying performance. His party followers constituted almost two-thirds of the House. The Democrats had adopted his code of rules, in essence if not in letter; and as he had no more parlia- Selkirk's boast:

I am monarch of all I survey, My right there is none to dispute.

He could therefore spend much of his time and energy of a in chasing the ignis fatuus presidential nomination, which he did, to his lasting unhappincss.

OSCAR W. UNDERWOOD

The most notable incident of the House of the Fifty- fourth Congress was that in it Oscar W. Underwood, of Alabama, began his long and distinguished public career, and was promptly and expeditions!/ flung out on a contest. But he returned to the Fifty-fifth, and has kept on returning to House or Senate ever since. If he felt hurt, as no doubt he did, he could have taken hope from the fact that one of his most eminent predecessors, as chairman of Ways and Means William McKinley suffered the same fate, only to come back and to rise to the dizziest heights. Senator Underwood comes by his political and law- making talents naturally. They are hereditary. His grandfather was a Senator of the United States from Kentucky, and one of his uncles was Lieutenant-Governor thereof. He himself was one of the most successful and popular parliamentary leaders the- House has ever known. He is already in the front rank in the Senatein fact, he was in the front rank immediately upon being sworn in. His name is forever linked indissolubly with a great Tariff bill, part of which the income tax will endure as long as the Republic lives. He therefore, in a certain sense, Him ii iic wuuiu. uc uii <-ii^ L iitaiiv.^, vuiiiiiLiu.cc:) wjiicn corresponds in some of its functions to the Committee on Ways and Me?ns in the House. I naturally supposed that he would desire that assignment. He replied by said: telling an apt anecdote. He "Down in Kentucky there was a cobbler who unex- of pectedly inherited a large sum money. He locked up his shop and went out in search of pleasure in all sorts of wild dissipation. Finally he spent all of his money, and returned to his humble cobbler's bench. Not long afterward a lawyer went to his shop and informed the cobbler that he had inherited another fortune. He looked up from his bench and said: 'My Godl must I go through all that again?' And that's the way 1 would feel about another Tariff bill I"

MR. SPEAKER HENDERSON

While Speaker Reed's defeat for the Republican presidential nomination embittered his heart during all Ins remaining days, and ultimately caused him to quit public life, his successor, Col. David Bremner Henderson, of Iowa, was spared heartburning on that tantalizing subject by reason of having been born in Scotland being made by the Constitution ineligible to the Presi- dency. Consequently, having achieved the highest posi- tion to which he could attain, he was content and happy in the Speakership. He was a handsome and commanding figure, and was fully six feet tall. With a splendid face, a symmetrical body neither too fat nor too lean -with a magnificent shock of iron-gray hair, he compelled attention at any place, in any crowd, or at any time. He had a clarion voice, which completely filled the great hall of the House a orator. and sometimes dramatic, He was a frequent debater, and his long service, together with his wide information as to legislative matters, gave much force to

his utterances. In his first service in the army he lost a foot at Corinth, the It was amputated just above ankle. As soon as he a \vas well he raised regiment, and served as its colonel war. to the end of the Necrosis of the bone set in, and his leg was amputated piecemeal, from time to time, all until it was gone. Generally he wore a cork leg, but aid of a used it so skilfully by heavy cane that few per- sons observed that he was lame. When that leg became tender he used crutches. At such times he was extremely irritable and belligerent. had the When we up Cuban Reciprocity bill, Speaker Henderson was bitterly opposed to it. Among those who stood with him in that matter was the late Representa- tive Walter P. Brownlow, of Tennessee, All of a sudden Speaker Henderson and the Republican leaders, under White House pressure, changed sides. Among those who changed was Brownlow, who was blessed with a fine .sense of humor. I was sufficiently familiar with him to take liberties. So, meeting him in the cloak-room, I said: "Brownlow, I hear you have changed sides on the Cuban Reciprocity bill. How did that happen?" He replied, very solemnly: "I wanted to show Dave Henderson that I can jump a fence as easily with two as he legs can with one" which was an adequate, if peculiar, cxplanaiion. One reason why Colonel Henderson was elected Speaker was Ills uniform kindness to new members which is gratefully remembered by many men to this day. There are few situations in life in which a man feels more lone- "Charlie" an exceedingly brilliant orator, told me that when he first reached Washington, after being authorized he was to write M. C. after his name, awfully lonesome, when and bluer than indigo. One clay he was in a par- of mind he met ticularly unhappy frame Colonel Hender- son in the Speaker's lobby, and Henderson asked him why he was moping around and was so disconsolate, Landis poured his tale of woe into the ear of the brawny, Colonel big-hearted lowan, whereupon Henderson slapped him on the back and said: "Cheer up, my boy, you will soon come to the front and make the gray-haired veterans the sit up and take notice. You've got stuff in you to do it. Don't fret or sulk. Don't be a 'Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance/ but go in and show them what a country Hoosier editor can do. I'll back you for all I'm worth." Charlie declared to me that Henderson's little speech did him more good than all the sermons he had ever heard, and from that day he loved the bluff, hearty Scotchman and, truth to tell, he was worthy of his love. I studied the story told me by Landis, and acted on it ever afterward. I took new members particularly Democrats under the shadow of my wing, and explained to them those things which a Representative can learn only by experience, as to the conduct of business and how to force their way toward the front. While I did that to strengthen our party in the House and without thought of the Speakership> I have no sort of doubt that one result of that line of conduct helped me attain that position. It certainly aided me very much when as minority leader I organized the Democratic minority into a superb fight- ing body. While I was serving my second term, when Colonel 1 T-In A arcnn urio <-li -m-vi i r\ -li rrt-alf I r\iv> rn I t f'O/i C1H t hf was over lie nobbled over to seat the fight my and said, that bill "Clark, did you fight because you were against are mad at me?" it or because you "Colonel I was dead I replied* Henderson, against the I it, and not because I have bill; that's why fought any- which I have not." Then he thing against you, made some kind, personal remarks, and we were close friends his death. to the day of is Scotch extraction on My wife of her mother's side, and she is an old-school Presbyterian. For these reasons she and Speaker Henderson became fast friends. Once at a White House reception they were arguing politics. Henderson, with great vehemence, was denouncing Demo- crats in general 'and Southern Democrats in particular whereupon Mrs. Clark said: "Mr. Speaker, you ought not to be so hard on Democrats and Confederates. If lived you had down South, you perhaps would have been both."

He replied, "I don't have a bit of doubt about it, madam, not a bit. I always stay with my friends" which was true, and which was one of the causes of his wide-spread popularity. That was the chief reason why he pulled through the Democratic storm of 1882 by the skin of his teeth, when the Hawk eye: State for the first and last time since the close- of the Civil War sent a dele- gation to the House a majoritj' of which were Democrats. Until quite recent!)' thc-rc was a sort of glee club in the House, which filled up the long waits between conference reports on the hist niglu of a session with songs, such as "He's a Jolly Good Fellow," "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground," "Old Muck Joe," '"Way Down Upon the Snwance River," "My Country, Tis of Thee," and "Rally Round the Flag, Hoys." The chief singers were w. cnose i neie s a nuic m <-m- i^wnum nn, ucu, wnicn eclat from both House he rendered with great and gal- leries. These musical services have been partially dis- continued, because death, promotion, and accident have removed the musicians. a Henderson possessed really magnificent bass voice, and had he been properly trained he might have made fame and fortune on the stage; but most assuredly if he could not have done so there was one member of the Fifty-ninth Congress who could have accomplished that feat, not by singing, but by whistling. That was Hon. Frank Fulkerson, of St. Joseph, Mis- souri. He is perhaps the champion whistler of the world, and can imitate any bird, animal, or musical wind- instrument whatsoever. He was a favorite member of the House glee club, and on his last night in the House was the chief performer; but alas and alack! he couldn't whistle himself into a second term. The farmers of the Platte Purchase turned deaf ears to his uncqualed whis- tling. Speaker Henderson was one of the most grateful of mortals. He never forgot a man who did him a kindness. For nearly ten years I wrote a thrce-thousand-word weekly letter for the American Press Association. Every Thursday morning, no matter where I was, that letter was in the New York office. They stereotyped it and sold the plates, accounting to me monthly. In a general way it was to be a Democratic letter, but I reserved the right to write on any subject or about anybody, just as I chose. I would not have written for them or for any- body else on any other terms. It so happened that there was a rich man named Miller who secured the introduction of a bill into the House in several Congresses making it unlawful to print adver- ivuuer was advertising purposes, an enthusiast on the and made a of his bill. While subject, hobby Henderson of the was chairman Judiciary Committee, Miller's bill to that and was referred committee, there were hearings on it. Miller alleged that on one occasion Henderson said: "I hope the time will come when every pound of meat this will be in shipped from country wrapped the Ameri- to teach can flag, not foreigners patriotism, but to teach them to eat American meat," which alleged utterance made Miller hot through and through. So he got him in up a pamphlet handsomely printed colors, arguing in favor of his bill, giving extracts from speeches, news- and interviews. other papers, Among things he quoted the alleged utterance of Henderson and proceeded to dance a war-jig on him. That was in a vacation of Con- dull and gress. Tilings political being being fond of Henderson, I took up the cudgels in his defense in one of my syndicate letters, winding up by declaring that it was preposterous for Miller or anybody else to undertake to impeach Colonel Henderson's patriotism, because he had given proof conclusive of his love of country by losing a foot at Corinth and by risking his life on a score of battle-fields. I wrote it for my own satisfaction, never supposing that Henderson would sec it and never dreaming that he would one day bo Speaker. It turned out, however, that the Democratic paper in Henderson's home city of Dubuqiic printed my letter every week. Consequently Henderson read my defense of him against Miller's assault, took bis pen in hand, and wrote me a four-page letter of thanks, which was haul ro decipher, but which I have yet, as a reminder of his big, generous heart. Frmn tli:if dm- In Hie Imiir nf hie iln^if-li lw At el -ill li/* 1/nmx/ the funeral of Hon. Richard Parks pageant at Bland of United States was the walking together Senator James of and Gen. David B. H. Berry, Arkansas, Henderson, of the House of of Iowa, since the Speaker Represents' his crutches and Henderson lives Berry on on Ki s C0rk lost a leg at Corinth on the same leg, each having day, other the one in the Confederate Army^the fighting under of the the starry banner Republic. of General Henderson's spirit good-fellowship \v as as we rode out to the handsomely illustrated graveyard. that somehow he Senator Berry discovered had lost his all his cash 'and his pocketbook, containing return ticket. As soon as this fact was announced, and before any one else could offer any assistance, Henderson ran his hand out a roll of down in his pocket, pulled greenbacks, ten-dollar and in counted out three bills, spite of Berry's to take them. There was protest forced him genuine American brotherhood for you! utterance of a It is rare that any Speaker of the House, while actually occupj'ing the chair, is flavored with humor Mr. Reed his or spiced with wit. indulged penchant in while that regard very gingerly presiding, though occa- the sionally he could not resist temptation. The same In is true of Speaker Henderson. the closing days of the first session of the Fifty-sixth Congress the House was obstreperous, and Speaker Humid-son pounded the desk with his gnvel anvil his ri^lu ;inu must have been sore for a week after final adjournment. When the House was in a most upronrinus mood, lion. Page Morris, of Duluth, began in speak in a very low tone. Hon. John

to ;i of J. Lent?,, of Ohio, arose qm-svion order, stating that he couldn't hear whai Morris was saying. That point had been made so often that da}' that Speaker For instance, Tuesday, June 5, 1900, was made by legis- lative fiction to include Wednesday, June 6th, so far as record was concerned. the House According to my way of thinking, as the legislative day of June 6th began, theo- retically, at least, at noon, it was necessary for the House to go through the performance of adjourning at that hour, if for no more than a second, and formally to begin the legislative day of June 6th, hut the House continued in session past twelve. About I P.M., June 6th, being still in operation as I to June 5th, rose a question of order and said: "Mr. Speaker, is this yesterday or to-day? Under the rules were we not hound to adjourn at twelve, meridian?" "Oh no," replied Speaker Henderson. "It is all right. Legislatively speaking, tin's is yesterday, but by the cal- endar it is to-day!" which was received with laughter and applause, 'Most everybody knows that General Henderson lost a the Civil leg during War, hut very few know that by reason of some disease of the bone he was compelled to have that leg, or portions of it, amputated five or six times. Beginning just above the ankle, the surgeons cut off his leg piecemeal until they nearly reached the hip-joint. Kew soldiers ever suffered more physical agony from wounds received in battle than did General Henderson. Nevertheless, he was as great a lover of as peace was Sir Robert Walpole. Some years ;igo Hen- derson was the orator-in-chicf at a national encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic, at Indianapolis, and began his address with this splendid sentence: "My theme to-night is war; I hate it." That mot would form a fitting epitaph for this citi'/en-soldier. - 11 V I 11-- LI IV- .j and scenes are unpleasant episodes, ugly forgotten, and In everybody seems disposed to jollify. the interludes of business, while waiting for conference reports, members musically inclined congregate in the area in front of the Speaker's stand and sing popular songs. were and On June 7, 1900, the boys singing, when the the House Speaker came in to adjourn they began to a Good Fellow." sing "The Speaker's Jolly That touched his big heart. He ascended to his place, gave his desk a whack, and then, with a tear in his eye and a smile on his face, said, "The choir will come to order; likewise the House." The committee appointed to wait on the President, to inform him that the House was ready to adjourn, hav- delivered ing reported, Speaker Henderson this neat and cordial valedictory, thoroughly characteristic of the man: "Gentlemen of the House of Representatives, we will in a few moments complete our session's work. It has been a session of earnest, patriotic effort, of unremitting toil. This House has demonstrated that men may meet on great fields of contest and part as friends. This body has considered many great, novel, national questions. That fervor which enters into debate on the eve of a great national conflict has been present, but guided by intelligence and nv.mly courage. "At the opening of this session I took this chair with that fear and apprehension which every conscientious man should feel. I appealed to you for support and kindly aid. Not for one moment have you forgotten that appeal. Your sustaining influence has made it possible to consider these mighty problems of the hour and never allow the legislator and the gentleman to sink below the that all return to the tton, and hope you may duties of the in next session refreshed body and in mind.'* exert Did Speaker Henderson much influence in legis- lation? My answer, from observation, is that he did. the Porto-Rican Tariff bill In my judgment never would House for his have passed the except influence. When I was Democratic minority leader I accidentally learned how to poll the House in the easiest, best, and most accurate way possible. During the Christmas holi- of the leave days most members Washington. The few who remain then have a golden opportunity to break into In the season of while the print. holiday 1908-09, Payne-AIdrich-Smoot Tariff bill was in the process of in- cubation, and while news items were scarce as hen's teeth or angels' visits, it popped into the head of some newspaper correspondent to discover whether the Demo- cratic members of the Ways and Means Committee in- tended to offer a substitute Tariff bill. So he went around interviewing members. By some strange mishap, he never succeeded in interrogating any Democratic member of the Committee on Ways and Means, who would be compelled to do the work of preparing a substitute Tariff if to bill, any such substitute was be offered; but among 1 others who yielded to his invitation to illuminate the question was Representative Henry D. Clayton, subse- quently chairman of the great Committee on the Judiciary and now a Federal judge. He gave out a flaming inter- view, declaring that we would offer a substitute Tariff bill, covering every item from "agate to zinc." The last three words were winged words, and were head-lined in every newspaper in the land, and this interview reached into the remotest corners of the country. The papers hammered on it until a great uproar was ^j^iujxi 382 MY yUAKiJ^JX ur

till then. it would was unheard of Moreover, entail a and vast amount of labor, investigation, trouble. In ad- offered a substitute dition to all that, if we Tariff bill the instead of defending their own Republican majority, bill, that would attack our bill. However may be, the talk as the Democrat on was so persistent th;it, top Ways and I Means as well as minority leader, concluded that it was to find out what the my duty, in both capacities, Demo- cratic sentiment of the House was on that important question. on this : I So, by accident, I hit plan wrote the dean of each Democratic delegation and asked him to convene them of a his delegation and poll on^tlie question substitute it would entail Tariff bill, stating that while much labor on the Democratic members of Ways and Means, we were willing to do the work if the House Democrats so desired. of the Missouri Being myself the dean delegation, I called a meeting of it. When we had assembled I stated the reason for the call and asked them how they stood. At first all except one was enthusiastically in favor of a substitute Tariff bill. I told them that, that being the case, I desired to know their opinions as to the tariff rates on the various multitudinous items. First, I asked what rate they wished on zinc, lead, and iron. Three of them quit suddenly. I then asked what rate they suggested on lumber. Two more kicked over the traces. I then asked what tariff they thought should be levied on wool. Three more reneged. In an hour they left me alone in my glory every oue of them being against a substitute formance in which the newspapers arc not interested. The members sit down and reason calmly together. No inflammatory speeches are made in the presence of a of No or large number persons. extravagant promises threats are made in the heat of debate, which they think that they must stick to, right or wrong, out of self-respect. No wounds are made into which salt may be rubbed. A great many folks, including Representatives in Con- are of the same mental habit as the man gress, who, by declared a horse was seventeen a slip of the tongue, feet of seventeen hands and high instead high, through pride of opinion stuck to it tor evermore. Pride works tre- mendous results in this world. Alexander Pope was within the shadow of a great truth when he wrote:

What the weak heiul with strongest bias rules Is pride, the never-failing vice of fools.

Ever since my experience with the substitute Tariff bill, whenever I have desired very much to know the Demo- cratic opinion of the Mouse, I have had it polled by dele- gations. The last time I tried it was in the last days of the Sixty-third Congress, on the Shipping hill. President Wilson was in sore distress about it, and one night he came out to my house to sec mo. Me told me his troubles, gave me his views at length, and I g;ivc him mine. He finally asked me if it could be put through the House caucus. I rep'icd that I did not know, as 1 had paid no attention to if, but that I had learned by hearing bits of conversation that r lit- re- was much opposition to it. Then President Wilson asked if T thought ih.it, in the event of tts being indorsed by the caucus, it would pass the House. I miulc the sumc reply, f vlicu told him him that it could be fovty-eight hours I wrote passed through the caucus after a bloody fightand it was that it could be bloody, sure enough- and passed through the House after another bloody fight. It turned out that my diagnosis was absolutely correct. The caucus which considered that bill lasted till the chickens were crowing for day, and was of the old-fash- ioned Kilkenny cat variety, the only one of that bad and nine bloody sort which we have had in years. Though it passed the House, the bill did not become a more's law in that Congress thc^pvty. I hope that my illustrious friend, Judge Henry D. full of Clayton, may live many years happiness and pros- the of perity, but if he reaches age Methuselah and is interviewed every day, the chances are a thousand to one that he will never utter any three words which will be so widely quoted or create such a hubbub as did his " "agate to zinc

MY FIRST TAMMANY HALL SPEECH

Of nil the experiences of my life prior to being sworn into Congress, the one which created the most comment, and for which I was most praised as well as most criti- cized, was the delivery of a speech in Tammany Hall, July 4, 1893. The newspaper comments ranged all the way from suggestions that I would some day be Presi- dent to comparisons with Jesse James certainly a suffi- ciently extended range to please most folks. It came about in this wise: Early in June I received an engraved invitation, signed by the Big Four of the Wigwam, to be present on the birthday of the Republic and make a "short speech." I doubted the advisability

all invitation to new JJemocratic Congressmen, and it I wanted I would supposed they really me, accept, inas- much as I would be in Washington about that time on business. public When I left my Missouri home in the last days of June I had not heard from them, and asked my wife to forward if their answer, any came, ^to my Washington address, which she did. I received it July 1st. En route having abundant leisure, I had written a brief speech on "The Trans-Missouri Democracy," but when, upon the receipt of their letter, I looked for my manuscript, to my dismay and disgust I discovered that I had lost it. As I was desirous of sending proofs to friendly home newspapers never dreaming that any New York paper would publish it -I secured a pencil and scratch-block, hunted up a job printing-office, chartered a messenger- boy, and sent the speech to my primer, sheet by sheet, as fast as I could write it, reproducing the lost speech from memory as nearly as possible. By night I had the proofs in the mail for home consumption. In the mean time I notified the committee that I accepted their kind invitation. They replied, asking when I would arrive and where 1 would stop. I replied that I would stop at the Hoffman House, arriving via the Pennsylvania road at such an hour on the 3d. Nobody met me at the depot or hotel. I registered and asked their prices. "Two dollars a day and up," replied the swell clerk. "Are meals included?" I timidly inquired. "No!" snapped His Royal Highness. I fell abashed in that august presence, and I took a two-dollar room up close to the rafters.

My utter greenness as to prices in New York must be ott outer stuffy and intensely hot, pulled my clothing, and lay down on the bed, began committing my speech to memory. At dusk I went down to the street, hunted a modest up a humble restaurant, and ate supper. After that I went back to my tiny room, stripped, put on my nightshirt, and went at my speech again. About eleven o'clock a colored bell-boy poked his head in the doorway and said, "Some gemmen wants to see I told him that I had you, Mustuh Clark." gone to bed, but to tell them to come up. They did so a quartet of roya souls Col. John R. Fellows, Amos J. Cummings, "Little Phil" Thompson, and Tom Coakley. So I re- ceived two Congressmen and one ex-Congressman in my "nightie," just as George M. Dallas received the dele- gation which notified him of his nomination for the Vice- Presidency. Their jolly laughter dispelled the gloom into which I had fallen by reason of what I considered neglect. As soon as they had introduced themselves Colonel Fellows asked, "Why are you up here in this cubbyhole?" I replied, "Because I do not want to go broke on hotel bills/' He said, "You are Tammany's guest while here and you don't pay a blamed cent." Then turning to the bell- boy he roared: "Go tell that upstart of a clerk to move Mr. Clark into such and such a suite" a suite big enough to have housed Brigham Young and all his wives. As soon as I could dress, the five of us repaired thither. Colonel Fellows was hotly critici/ing his friend, "Private" John Allen, of Mississippi, who was on the program for a "long talk," for failing them at the last minute. He swore that without Allen the Fourth-of-JuIy oratory would be dry as a powder-house. What was equally unfortu-

n !*/> cr\ fli/i r>/~il(-tn i-il 'iH^crfii-l 1*71 c? ! li -i t- t Iior/> \\ri t' nn nllP talk." I bashfully inquired what they considered a "short talk" and a "long talk." Colonel Fellows said that the limit on a "short talk" was ten minutes, and a "long talk" thirty. So they substituted me in place of Allen for a "long talk." As they were leaving the room I called Mr, Thompson back. Though I had never seen him before, I knew all about him. His father and mine were old-time friends, and he was among those I cast my first vote for when he was a candidate for Circuit attorney in Kentucky. I told him that my speech presented, without hedging, the views of Western Democrats as compared with the views of Eastern Democrats, much to the advantage of the Westerners, particularly on the coinage question, which was then a burning issue; that I was determined to de-

liver it, and wound up by asking him to read it and tell me how he thought it would be received, as I had never spoken in the East. He hastily read the speech, which contained not a scintilla of wit or humor. After perusing it lie said, "Your views are forcibly stated, and some of them will not please your audience; but I understand you can tell an anecdote well." I re- plied with becoming modesty that I had some local repu- tation in that regard. He then said that if I would begin my speech with a couple of good anecdotes, and edge in one occasionall}', they would receive my speech all right. Philip B. Thompson, Jr. "Little Phil," as he was universally called in Kentucky, to differentiate him from - his father, Philip B. Thompson, Sr. was a brave boy- soldier, a brilliant lawyer, and an eloquent speaker. He was a successful Circuit attorney and n prominent Repre- sentative in Congress. He hat! one unique experience, and another of the most thrilling nature. Mis father, column, the otner at tne rear, so mat tney woma not both be killed or injured at once. Happily none of the three received a scratch. He was one of the participants in the most remarkable in a court-house. fight that ever took place During the trial of a case in the Circuit Court-room at Harrodsburg, Kentucky, he, his twin brother, and his father shot and killed old man Davis and his two sons a performance unparalleled in all the bloody annals of America. All six were shooting simultaneously in that crowded benches and room. People got under the sought safety wherever they thought they could find it, some jumping through the windows, taking the sashes with them. The presiding judge, Wickliff, huddled down behind the judge's stand. While this fusillade was in progress Col. John B. Thompson, Sr., ex-Lieutenant-Governor, ex-Representative in Congress, and ex-United States Senator, brother to "Old Phil" and uncle to "Little Phil," stood in the aisle jerking his head by reason of palsy. When the shooting ceased, somebody asked him why he didn't get under a bench, as the others did. He replied, laconically, "Because all the places had been taken 1" an explanation which explained. Col. John R. Fellows, who was a rare and radiant ora- tor, was an Arkansas lawyer and soldier, one of the most successful among the pioneer Southerners who at the close of the Civil War moved on New York in quest of ventures and to seek their fortunes. He was one of Mr. Croker's favorites, and held high office for many years revolving out of one good berth into another and generally a better one. Amos J. Cummings was one of the most popular men I have ever known. Fitz-Greene Halleck's fine lines as to were really true Cummings. He had filibustered in Nicaragua with General Walker, yclept by his followers "the Gray-eyed Man of Destiny," who ended by being a dead wall and lined up against shot; Cummings truthfully boasted that he had set type in every state in the Union; learned to be an editor under Horace Greeley and Charles in A. Dana; served four years the Army of the Potomac; and finally was a successful lecturer and Representative his varied jn Congress. Throughout and exciting expe- riences his heart had remained tender as a little child's, and he was to the end a lover of his kind. His military hero was George B. McClellan and his hero among states- men was Mr. Speaker Samuel J. Randall. Had Cum- mings lived to hear President Theodore Roosevelt dedi- cate Antvetam as a national park, and speak an hour without once mentioning "Little Mac," the victor of that bloody field, there is no telling what Cummings would have done to that soldier, statesman, traveler, discoverer, hunter, politician, and author. But to return to our mutton. There was a monster audi- ence in Tammany Hall on the Fourth including many men of prominence in every walk of life. On the pro- gram ahead of me were Mr. Speaker Crisp and Congress- man Bentou McMillan. Crisp's fame was nation-wide. When the band had played "The Star-spangled Banner" and he was introduced, that vast multitude rose up as one man and applauded for fully five minutes before he was permitted to begin. As hu always did, he delivered a sound, sensible; Democratic speech, and was liberally applauded at the close. Then came Hen ton McMillan, not so famous as Mr. Speaker Crisp, but a veteran statesman with a splen- did reputation and exceedingly popular with the Tam- tide. Having applauded Crisp five minutes, they applauded Benton McMillan three. He sailed in and made a _ ringing, rabble-rousing, old-fashioned ^Democratic stump speech, he is a in which species of oratory past-master. When he had concluded I was introduced. The audi- one in ence applauded me for about minute feeble and band perfunctory fashion. The played "My Old Ken- tucky Home." I did not really know a soul in that vast audience, and I had stage-fright so bad that I thought my tongue would cleave to the roof of my mouth in wished most spite of all I could do, and heartily that 1 had declined the invitation to speak. While the band was playing, a Missourian down at the reporters* table sent me this encouraging note: "Go in and speak as you would at a picnic in the woods in Missouri and you will make a national reputation!'* At last the band rested from its labors. My stage- fright bothered me very much at first, but, following "Little Phil's" advice, I began with two fetching anec- dotes which set the braves to whooping and yelling tumultuously. My stage-fright vanished as suddenly as it had come on, and in five minutes I felt as much at home as if I had been addressing a juvy in my own town. In all my life I have never delivered a speech in better style. The audience applauded rapturously everything worth applauding, and a good many things that were not, but when I was eulogizing the Trans-Mississippi Democrats, telling them how we had been treated by the party as stepchildren, and how we intended to lord it over them in the days to come, they acted as though they had been treated to an ice bath. Then I would throw in something by way of praise of Tammany Demo- wnll liL-r> tin ni-inw ( j-im-mMir>o Mississippi Democracy especially the Missouri De- as mocracy a policeman big as the Kentucky giant, mouth of the aisle farthest sitting in the from me, could stand it no longer, and bawled in a stentorian voice, "What about New Yorruck?" I replied, glibly, "New York is all right when it is right, but the trouble is she about half the time. On the of is wrong night the elec- tion the whole country inquires, 'How did New York whereas takes the trouble to 'How did go?' nobody ask, Missouri go?' Their inquiry is, 'What is Missouri's 1 Democratic majority?" That put my interrogator out of business. I have always thought that I owed an apology to my inquisitive and would have sent him one I policeman, had known his address. At the next election Missouri went Re- publican. During my speech I noticed that a very tall, good- looking man with a preacher's coat and collar, sitting in the seventh row of seats, invariably led the applause for me. The managers invited me into the basement of the Fourteenth Street wigwam to luncheon, after the exer- cises were over. In the basement I saw my clerical- coated friend standing in the middle of the room, assidu- ously stowing the refreshments away. I walked up to him and said: "My friend, I noticed you led the applause for me, and I would like to know who you are." He replied, "I am the Reverend Mr. Forbush, rector of the Episcopal church at Poughkeep- sie, but I was born and reared near JVTiddletown, Mont- gomery County, Missouri, in your district, and I am down to New York for the sole purpose of hearing you speak!" next morning than most INCW-IUIK.CIS, wt-nc over into and sat on an iron Madison Square Park, bench, watching the the antics of the squirrels in lovely trees, wondering would anxiously what the New York papers say about were my speech. My expectations very moderate. I lines would be about thought a notice of ten the limit. be but entertained I hoped it would favorable, grave doubts on that head. I was thinking deeply as to what my Democratic enemies in my badly factionali/ed dis- trict would do to me if my speech was pronounced a failure. At last a boy came through the park with an armful of papers, and I said: "Young man, what papers have you?" He answered: "All of them." I bought one of each. The first tny eye fell on was The black lines New York World, with great flaring at the top of the first column, first page, which ran in this wise: "Hark to Champ Clark!" followed by several columns of descriptive matter, cartoons, and the complete text of my speech. Most of the other New York papers gave me considerable space. Later The St. Louis Republic hailed it as "A Key-note Speech," and it was head-lined throughout the land. Such is a bnef account of my first appearance and reception in the American metropolis. At first the Eastern papers regarded it merely as a "funny speech," by reason of the anecdotes which Phil Thompson induced me to put into it, and spoke pleasantly of it; but when they came to realize its serious import as to the hopes, intentions, and ambitions of Western Democrats a prophecy of their domination of the party they began to abuse me, and some of them have kept it up to tins day. The New York Sun, in order to prove me to be an ican journalism. It has been thought by divers and sundry persons that my Tammany Hall speech set in motion, or at least gave Democratic impetus to, Western ideas, and drew the lines for the great contest of 1896. At any rate, the Ideas which I enunciated that day were incorporated into the on which 1896 Chicago platform, that historic battle was fought. In the retrospect I think that the most pleasing result of that speech was the lifelong friendship of Amos Cum- mings, Colonel Fellows, and "Little Phil" Thompson. Perhaps the most amusing incident pertaining to that that before trip was leaving the capital I asked a news- paper man of my acquaintance, and from Missouri, but who was not very friendly and was in a bad humor about something or other, what was a good hotel in New York. He inquired why I was going to New York, and I told him that I had been invited to make a Fourth-of-July speech in Tammany Hall; whereupon he soothingly remarked, "A new Congressman amounts to precious little in Wash- ington and to nothing at all in New York!" Although he represented the largest Democratic daily in Missouri, lie never asked me a word about my speech, and I did not vouchsafe any information or tender him an advance copy. No doubt be was as much surprised as 1 was to find that my speech was telegraphed in full from New York to his own pnpcr in Missouri, and pub- lished on the front page with big, flaring head-lines, together with my picture, and an elaborate editorial notice of the most laudatory character. He certainly did not achieve a scoop on that occasion, but I pondered his mot as to the little importance attaching to the new members, and entered upon my duties at the extra ses- was! Co!. John A. Ely, a native of Missouri, now a Demo- cratic leader in the land of the Dakotas, once became so sick that the doctors gave him up, and informed him that if he had any farewell messages to deliver, or any final arrangements to make toward setting his house in order, he had better be about it, for his time was brief. Whereupon the colonel amazed his intimates sure by preferring this strange request: "Be to bury me in the Swedish graveyard." A long time he was suspended between heaven and earth, and his friends nearly worked themselves into ver- of he tigo trying to solve the problem why had chosen that particular place of sepulture, for they knew that while in health he and the Scandinavians, who were gen- erally stalwart Republicans, had not been enamoured of one another. One night, just as he began to show signs of recovery, Col, Reuben C. Pew, marshal of the St. Louis Court of Appeals, who was watching by the sick-bed, could restrain his curiosity no longer, and determined to clear up the great mystery. So he said: "John, you arc liable to die before morning, and blanked if I don't want to know what made you desire to be buried in that Swedish cemetery." "Because," replied the jocund ex-Missourian, with a feeble smile "because that is the last place on earth the devil would go to look for a Democrat." Congress is, perhaps, the last congregation of men which a person would visit expecting to discover a poet. It is generally taken and accepted that the poetic faculty needs quietude, rural scenes, and an esthetic atmosphere to induce its the fact that sustenance, notwithstanding" the before the battle of of arms, night Cluckamauga, where he died a hero's death, and where a magnificent monument marks his last resting-place on the field of his glory. In Britain, where poets are more plentiful than here, hold official stations. they frequently Milton was Sec- for Oliver retary of State Cromwell. Sir Walter Scott was high sheriff, Robert Burns an excise officer, and he Macaulay, before was elevated to the peerage, repre- sented the city of Glasgow for many years in the House of Commons, and was more than once a member of the Cabinet. Bulwer, Lord Lytton, was a painstaking and ambitious, if not a great statesman; and his son, "Owen Meredith," author of "Lucille," the most famous poem of his generation, has been governor-general of India. In France a poet is as liable to be found in the National Assembly as anywhere else. Versifiers or rhymesters arc not rare birds in Congress, for anybody with a reasonable command of the English language can write in perfect meter and rhyme. That's a comparatively cnsy performance purely mechanical. John Quincy Adams was a great hand at that sort of composition, and he had about as much real poetry in his soul as a marble statue. Some years ago the delegate in Congress from Wyoming inflicted on the House a two hours' speech in blank verse, ami it appeared in The Record next morning with the legend "copyrighted, all rights reserved" which pro- duced a tremendous uproar and precipitated a fight to expunge it not that anybody wanted to infringe his copyright or circulate that wonderful document, but because the members thought such action was in deroga- tion of the dignity of the House.

rv,,,,..,.! r* ...I'., i i . i,,, : i^., ..i,.i n K~i...n poetry. , . , ^ i however, a In the Fifty-third Congress, genuine poet in the art of of no mean attainments which Byron was master sat side side with the most proficient by that grim E. and the old soldier, Gen. Daniel Sickles, multimillion- C. of aire, Joseph Siblcy, Pennsylvania. Dr. Thomas Dunn English, of New That was Jersey, as well as standing in the world of whose great age, letters, the fact that he was both a is shown by contemporary most and and rival of that brilliant, weird, erratic of all American Edgar Allan Poc. poets, _ Doctor English had one failing in common with most of the relative literati incapacity to judge merits of his own productions. Milton lived and died in the erroneous belief that "Paradise Regained" was superior to "Paradise Lost," the truth being that few read the former under any condi- tions whatever, and none would read it save for the fact that they are dazed by the resplendent glories of the latter. his When Southcy finished one of boa-some epics he would exclaim: "That will establish fame forever " my that will outlast 'Paradise Lost.' He always despised his minor pieces. Yet nobody evrr read his epics. Even their very titles are forgotten, while those of lesser poems are still remembered. Incomparably the greatest poem written by Thomas Campbell indeed one of tlu i Kieatesi ever written by anybody is "The Pleasures of Hope." There are pas- sages in it which will he read with delight as long as the English language- is studied. Nevertheless, Campbell always persisted in considering it as one oi his crudest works. author of "The Pleasures ried as 'the of Hope,'" and no I do I matter what or say can't escape from the hateful author of "The Pleasures title of 'the of Hope."'" His biographer adds, rather sardonically: "I could not when I visited the help smiling cemetery where the great and saw chiseled his poet sleeps upon tombstone, 'Thomas Campbell, author of "The Pleasures of Hope.'"" So with Doctor English. Though quite a prolific author, his fame rests solely on one popular song "Ben Bolt" which has been sung by two generations of lovers, which has been used as one of the leading features of "Trilby," which Doctor English hated most heartily, and the mere mention of which affected him very much as the shaking of a red rag docs an infuriated bovine. Name the poem to him and he would flare up at once I" and yell: "Damn 'Ben Bolt' in most unpoetic fashion. Musical experts and critics of poetry have been search- a will ing long for song which be as thoroughly a national American air as "Die Wacht am Rhein" is German, the "Marseillaise" is French, or "God Save the King" is English. So far, according to their own statements, they have failed utterly. They claim that there arc ten- able objections to "Yankee Doodle," "The Star-spangled Banner," and "My Country, Tis of Thee." Mr. Lincoln declared with great: good sense and good humor that the Union armies captured "Dixie" along with General Lee, and it is gradually becoming popular in all sect ons of the country. Scores of poets and composers of music have tried their hands at producing for us a national hymn or anthem, both easy to sing and to pi-ay OH any musical instrument, inspiring in sentiment, pleasant to the ear, and soul- stirring. So far they have not succeeded, but they arc national hymn or anthem. The critics assert that "The Star-spangled Banner" is simply a description of an exceedingly exciting event in our history, wholly local in character. Everybody knows that. The critics, however, go farther and assert that the words are commonplace and the music inadequate; and as to singing it, that is well-nigh impossible; but surely they must admit that when rendered by a brass band it is magnificent. The vast majority of people would so vote were a plebiscite held on that subject. As to good Doctor Smith's song, "My Country, Tis of Thee," the critics say that he localized it by lugging in the Pilgrims, and that while the Pilgrims were estimable folks, no doubt, most Americans are not descended from the Pilgrims. Moreover, the critics object to the music, asserting that the air is that of "God Save the King," which we borrowed bodily from the English, who mira-

bile dictu! borrowed it from the Germans ! Wonders will never cease. These critics proclaim to nil the world that fame and fortune await the American who will write a truly national hymn or anthem worthy of America, without local feature or borrowed music. My prediction, however, is that we will cling to "The Star-spangled Banner" and "My Country, Tis of Thee" for some time yet. However that may be, Doctor English tried his hand with this result: HURRAH FOR YOU, OLD GLORY

Though changes mny the world appal, Though crowns may break and thrones may fall, Our banner shall survive them all And ever live in story. The rainbow of a rescued land, Where freemen brave together stand, W;1, *,-,.t-U nn A ^n ,. r ^ nn 1-,-itwl In Inn/1 Old Glory, Old Glory, Floats proudly here Old Glory, Old Glory, Old Glory, Hurrah for you, Old Glory.

In days we fought with George the Third, When independence was the word One voice from rising manhood heard As well as old age hoary; One purpose then we had in view- To form of states a union true, And eyes and hearts were turned to you, Our banner grand, Old Glory.

With you we scorn both lord and lown, We heeded not old England's frown, We fought the bulldogs of the crown And smote the skulking Tory. Long may your folds above us wave, Cheered by the honest and the brave, And gently may the breezes lave Your rippling sheet, Old Glory,

Symbol arc you of right and law, Whether Jn peace the bad to awe, Or leading on where freemen draw Their swords in battle glory: Each day to us the more endears The flag that now for many years Has filled our hopes and banned our fears, Your stars imd stripes, Old Glory.

A cloudy sky for you has been When brothers met In battle din, And strove supremacy to win; But that's an olden .siwyj For time goes on, and here to-day, If foreign foes invite the fray, We boys in blue and boys in gray CHAPTER XV

bill Ohio feuds in Fifty-fifth Congress Spanish War Dingley general the Sherman-McKinfey-Hanna feud in particular Sherman and Algcr. r is for a few PHE Fifty-fifth Congress noted important 1 events, two of which were the Spanish-American War and the passage of the Dingley Tariff bill. Had not the Supreme Court by a five-to-four decision which still stinks in the nostrils of mankind knocked out the in- come-tax feature of the Wilson-Gorman Tariff hill, it would have brought in abundant revenue to run the government, and as a consequence Governor Dingley never could have secured the enactment of a bill carrying the high rates of the Dingley bill. After the income tax was eliminated, there was a deficiency in the revenues, and as the Repub- licans had the President, also both branches of Congress, Governor Dingley had comparatively easy sailing. Times were improving before his bill was passed, and, truth to tell, went on improving even more rapidly after his bill became a law. His bill was given all the credit. The Spanish-American War, which broke out after the Dingley bill was passed, was not entirely unexpected. The Spanish misrule in Cuba had become both a nuisance and a scandal. So many Americans had business con- nections in the island; so many Americans were ia the Cuban anny, of whom Frederick Funston was most fa- mous; so many Americans were resident in Cuba; it was so close to our shores; the cruel despotism of the Middle Aees practised almost in sieht of K.ev West; sympathy to all we had tor cast In addition that, many years covet- Cuba. Its was near ous eyes on possession very the heart and the Ostentl Manifesto is O f Thomas Jefferson, one of documents in our the most famous history though noth- of it. But we ourselves not ing came solemnly pledged we that to annex Cuba, and kept pledge a remarkable altruistic performance and, having freed Cuba, we back into our own brought our army country. Notwith- standing all the foregoing facts, and notwithstanding the tear-compelling tales of woe which came to our ears from "The Gem of the Antilles," I do not believe we would have declared war against Spain had it not been for the foolish and insulting letter which the Spanish Minister DePuy de Lome wrote about President McKinley, which created a tremendous uproar. The blowing up of the Maine in the harbor of Havana was the straw that broke the camel's back. The letter enraged the people, without for a President is vcgard to political afliliations, when sworn in he becomes instanter and ipso facto the President of us all, a Democrat resenting a brutal insult to a Repub- lican President as hotly as a Republican, and vice versa. Of course, we all reserve the sovereign right to criticize and lambast our own President, but resent outsiders doing so. President McKinley, himself a gallant soldier, was against the war, and hoped to settle the matter by diplo- macy; he persisted in his pacific intentions so long as to alienate many Republicans; but; when the offensive letter of the Spanish Minister was published broadcast, and the Maine was blown up, killing hundreds of our sailors sleep- ing peacefully in their hammocks, the American people cried out with one accord for vengeance and forced the gentle and kind-ht-arted President's hand. The war came, and ended in one hundred days in the complete triumph nf A rwni'ifi 11 -i .-mo A A i>ii i--i I l"V.nr/ti* -i Ir-nuv i-.i til/- if i fh *-n/ joe emulating the far-resounding exploit of Charles the Pultava. Gen. Nelson Twelfth of Sweden at A. Miles, head of our army, the foremost American soldier then living, was not, for "prudential" reasons, assigned to a command where he could distinguish himself. Where- fore? A man does not have to he a Solomon to discover an answer to that question. Millions of people deemed the treatment he received as a great outrage. Finally, to appease the friends and admirers of General Miles, he was put in command of army forces to invade Porto Rico, but as the Porto-Ricans welcomed our forces with songs and strewed flowers in their pathway, the general had no opportunity to win new laurels. His enemies tried to belittle the battle-scarred veteran by much scurrilous talk, touching the fact that in going to war part of his luggage consisted of a collapsible bathtub as if a soldier does not need a bath as do other men but all their flouts and jeers did not convince anybody of sense that he had not been foully dealt with. He had fought bravely on too many fields of slaughter; he had received too many serious wounds; he had shed too much blood; he had achieved too high a rank for a person with a grain of wisdom to doubt the famous warrior's capacity or courage. Many of his countrymen still believe that he was maltreated for fear that new laurels won on the battle-field would make him a formidable candidate for the Presidency. As a sort of consolation prize, one abiding ambition of General Miles was realized the rank of lieutenant-general \vas resurrected for him, and as it turned out necessarily for others. It was not done, however, because those in authority loved him, but to gratify the desire of Gen. Henry C. Corbin. The story is this: For years General and who was one of the a corps, subsequently most suc- in our his cessful Indian-fighters history, most famous feat of had been being the capture Geronimo, striving to be made lieutenant-general; but he and Gen. Henry C. Corhin were in feud, and Corbin being the more wily of the two, thwarted the effort of General Miles politician and most probably would have continued to do so had he not suddenly conceived the ambition to be a major- the been to that general adjutant-general having up time only a brigadier. Presto, change! The Miles forces and the Corbin forces doubled teams, and each got what

he wanted I Some of us tried to make the rank of lieutenant-general apply only to Miles by name, but we could not accomplish it, so that we had a string of lieu- tenant-generals of whom Corbin was one. Finally, one to day we tacked an amendment an army appropriation

bill, restricting the rank of lieutenant-general to veterans of the Civil War. After that we did not have any more lieutenant-generals until the World War began. The feud betwixt Miles and Corbin was a mild and ladylike affair compared with that between Schley and Sampson, both worthy sea-fighters, touching the honors of the brilliant naval victory in Cuban waters, which attracted much attention and created intense bitterness. Both of them arc in their graves, but the animosities engendered by their controversy still survive and will probably survive as long as the history of the American navy is read. One result of the war with Spain was the annexation of the Sandwich Islands, usually called the Hawaiian Islands, by joint resolution. That method was adopted because it was well known chat: the necessary two-thirds majority to ratify a treaty of annexation could not be mustered in the Senate. In fact, the joint resolution of annexation mat. av a vociierously asserted vuiy icasunaoie cost made as "Pearl Harbor" could be impregnable as

Gibraltar. , in the last It will be remembered ^that^ days of the administration Sanford B. younger Harrison's Dole and of other Americans, or children Americans resident in the a Kingdom of Hawaii, engineered revolution which over- set of threw the monarchy and up a^republic which Dole, one of the handsomest men of his time, was President. Then in hot haste a treaty of annexation was negotiated between the American Republic and the Hawaiian Re- it in the Senate, and one public; but was hung up of the President Cleveland after he was first things clicl^ inducted into the Presidency the second time was to withdraw the that treaty from the consideration of Senate. So the annexation scheme was in suspense during his term and term until during President McKinley's the war with Spain began, when Francis G. Newlands, of Nevada, then on a member of the House Committee Foreign Affairs, subsequently a Senator in Congress, introduced the joint resolution of annexation. That was the most important action of his long public career, and if the Hawaiians luive any sense of gratitude they will erect a splendid monu- ment to perpetuate his memory, for undoubtedly annexa- tion was a most profitable performance for Hawaii, the sugar-planters being enabled thereby to introduce their products into the immense American market free of cus- tom duties for all time to conic, which was really the milk in the coconnut. It is said that there arc more million- aires in Hawaii than on any other plot of rural laud of the same size on the habitable globe, and neaily every one of them is a "Sugar King" the sugar which gives them the title of kings being produced by cheap Japanese, Chinese, and Portuguese labor. No wonder that: the sucar-raisers millions than millions in it, more Colonel tellers dreamed his of as a result of eye-water. Another important result of the Spanish-American War was that we not only came into possession of Porto Rico, but also of Guam and the Philippine Archipelago, which made us an "Asiatic Power." One consequence of ^ pos- "Oriental is sessing our empire" that we truthfully boast that the sun never sets on our dominions, which is an asset of doubtful value. Incidentally it is apropos to state that the Philippine Islands are the only piece of land that England ever voluntarily relinquished. They had them three hundred years ago and sailed away and left them. Our "Oriental empire," about which we speak so grandiloquently, contains less cultivable land than does the one-third part of Missouri north of the Big Muddy. As was natural, some scandals grew out of the Spanish- American War. All history shows that in the rush of things in war more or less of scandal is inherent and inevitable. It is an old saying that the poor we have with us always. It might well be added that we have profiteers and thieves with us always. Human nature has not changed one jot or tittle since Adam and Eve were driven from Eden with flaming swords, and it will not change till the earth perishes from fervent heat. It was freely charged that certain rascals in 1898 made princely fortunes by taking advantage of the necessities of the government: in the name of patriotism and unload- ing on Uncle Sam unseaworthy ships and old tubs at fabulous prices vessels which endangered the lives of soldiers herded onto ilium. It was also alleged that there was much swindling in the purchase of horses, mules, and every species of supplies needed by the army. The robin set the country wild, and the administration was afraid to court-martial him. All these scandals, with others nameless here, forevermore drove the Secretary of War, Gen. Russell A. Alger, out of the Cabinet. Nobody thought for one moment that Alger was dishonest. He was simply the victim of the bad conduct of some of his subordinates. His sin was in being over-confiding in cer- tain of his friends. He was a very rich and a very chari- table man, with a creditable war record, having fought his way to the double stars of a major-general. He had been a prominent candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, but there had to be a scapegoat, and he was it. The people of Michigan speedily vindicated him by an election to the Senate of the United States. John Sherman, who had for years aspired to the Presi- dency without success, and who led on every ballot but the last for the Republican nomination in the convention of 1888, when Gen. Benjamin Harrison was nominated, was McKinley's first Secretary of State, and General Alger, who was also a candidate for the Republican presi- dential nomination in 1888, was liis first Secretary of War which must be considered remarkable when it is remembered that in his book Sherman uses this language touching his colleague: "I believe, and had, as I thought, conclusive proof that the friends of General Alger sub- stantially purchased the votes of many of the delegates from the Southern states who had been instructed by their conventions to vote for me." (Page 1029, Vol. 2.) Again, on page 1032, Sherman says, in speaking of Gen, Benjamin Harrison's nomination and his own defeat: "The only feeling of resentment I entertained was in regard to the action of the friends of General Alger in tempting with money poor negroes to violate the instruc- war chief. Sherman his Alger his published book, en- Sherman's Recollections titled John of Forty Years in in House, Senate, and Cabinet, 1895, but, notwithstanding strictures on General on his severe Alger, March 5, 1897, side side in President they sat by McKinley's Cabinet. Each could have repeated the lines from "A Midsummer Night's Dream": So we grew together, Like a double cherry, seeming parted, 13 ut yet a union in partition; Two lovely berries on one stein.

Verily, verily, politics makes strange bedfellows. There is an old proverb to the effect that the pot should not call the kettle black. Whether Sherman's charge that General Alger' s friends purchased his Southern delegates is true or not, it appears that Sherman's friends, notably Marcus Alonzo Hanna, quartermaster of the Sherman Ohio delegation, as he termed himself actually manager of the delegation were pursuing the same tactics to capt- ure Southern delegates for Sherman. Senator Joseph Benson Foraker, who placed Sherman in nomination in that convention, and who would prob- ably have been nominated himself if he had consented, which he refused to do, says in his book: "Each delegate to the convention was entitled to two extra tickets of admission for each session. The purpose of these extra tickets was to enable those furnished with them to ac- commodate friends, but the delegates from the Southern states were far from home and short of cash. They had few friend:; to accommodate, but many necessities that were urgent. Even before the first session of the con- vention was held rumors were afloat thr.t the Southern delegates were selling their extra tickets and that they or two being done by anybody, until a day before the I had occasion balloting commenced, when to go to Mr. Hanna's room to see him about something, and found him there engaged in buying and paying for such tickets. There were a number of negro delegates in his room, and he was taking their tickets and paying them therefor in the most open, business-like way. I "I was greatly surprised by what saw, and ventured He defended his to express displeasure therewith. action as necessary because the same tactics were being resorted to by others. I quickly left his room, and never returned to it. I also succeeded in exchanging my room, then near his, for another on a different floor, which I occupied until the close of the convention. "Mr. Sherman, in his Personal Recollections* states that he was informed and made to believe that the friends of General Alger were bribing delegates from the Southern states, who had been instructed to vote for him and to desert him and vote for Alger, by buying their tickets. What was done in that respect I do not know, but a glance at the vote cast by the Southern delegates will show that Mr. Hanna did not allow very many of them to get away from him. For instance, out of twenty votes from Ala- bama, Alger got six, Sherman twelve; Georgia, Alger none, Sherman nineteen; Louisiana, Alger two, Sherman nine; Mississippi, Alger none, Sherman twelve; North Carolina, Alger two, Sherman fifteen; South Carolina, Alger three, Sherman eleven; Tennessee, Alger nine, Sherman seven; Virginia, Alger three, Sherman eleven, and so on to the end. "I came to know General Alger in Inter years much better than I knew him at that time. I knew enough of the two men, Sherman and Alger, to know that neither one would have countenanced or permitted the doing of j kind had been done in thing of the his behalf. Mr. Sherman says so in so many words m his Personal Recol- General said so in lections, and Algcr the most emphatic manner as often as he had occasion to speak on the subject. "There was much discussion among the delegates as to what was going on with respect to the Southern vote, but I did not hear of anybody denying that Mr. Hanna was purchasing tickets from the negro delegates; cer- was no denial tainly there by Mr. Hanna. An entirely different defense was made. It was that he was only trying to hold delegates who had been instructed by their constituents to support Mr. Sherman. On the other hand, it was asserted that nobody was bound to respect the instructions, for the reason that they had been pur- chased in the first place, as the tickets were then being purchased. The whole subject is unsavory and dis- agreeable, and I mention it at all only because of what Mr. Sherman said, and because of what Mr. Croly has said in his Lift' of Mr. Manna, and to the end that justice may be done to all concerned, including Mr. Manna, who was so constituted that he was unable to see anything in the transaction except only that he was holding on to what belonged to him and that there was nothing to consider, except only the price he had to pay; and he was not the man to allow that to stand in the way. "Mr. Croly, after referring to this incident, and quoting from a statement I made ar the time with respect to it, adds the following: "'There is some truth in the- foregoing statement. Other members of the convention state that Mr. Hanna had in his trunk more tickets to the convention than he could have obtained in any way except by their purchase protest. "Mr. Croly seems to have investigated for himself, and to have found confirmatory proof of the truth of my statement. If he made any earnest investigation, he is < unjust in trying to minimize by saying there is some truth' in my statement. My statement was the exact truth nothing more, nothing less and almost any mem- ber of the delegation would tell him so." The real tragedy of McKinley's administration grew out of the appointment of John Sherman as Secretary of State, and his resignation of that high place which added one more to the many Republican vendettas in Ohio. As nearly as can be ascertained from the ma-zes of con- tradiction and the mass of malice, the situation was this: President McKinley and Marcus Alonzo Hanna were bosom cronies and had been for years. McKinley was under deepest obligations to planna, both financially and politically financially because when McKinley found himself in debt in the large sum of sixty-five thousand dollars by reason of having to pay the debts of friends for whom he had gone security, Hanna raised a "pony purse" and paid him out; politically for reasons which all the world knows. It was altogether natural and to his credit that when he came to be President lie desired to do something for his powerful and faithful friend, whom he and everybody else rated as a presidential Warwick. He could by his mere ipse dixit have given him a Cabinet position, and ns a matter of fact pressed him to accept a Cabinet portfolio, especially that of Postmaster-General. Everybody took it for granted that Hanna would be in the Cabinet, as his antecedents indicated that that was the official position for which he was best fitted. To the surprise of McKinley and everybody else, lie firmly and repeatedly declined a Cabinet place, but let it be known His biographer, Herbert Croly, says that he had secretly nursed that ambition for several years. As Senator Foraker, who never failed to sneer at Croly and to cast insinuations on Croly's veracity and bona fides, corrobo- rates Croly on that one point, it must be accepted as true. No doubt if McKinley could have appointed a United States Senator he would have appointed Hanna; but he could not appoint a Senator, and, what was more and still worse, there was no senatorial vacancy from Ohio. Con- while at sequently, McKinley was amazed Manna's am- bition for a senatorial toga in preference to a Cabinet the two laid their heads to secure portfolio, together the creation of an Ohio senatorial vacancy. It was abso- lutely preposterous to suggest to Gov. Joseph Benson Foraker that he decline or resign the senatorial term his first term to begin March 4, 1897. He had been to fighting a long time reach the Senate, having given John Sherman the senatorial fight of his life in 1892. Foraker, whatever his faults, was the most brilliant of the whole batch of Buckeye statesmen of that era. He hated Hanna most savagely for several reasons, princi- pally because Hanna had bolted his nomination for a third gubernatorial term in 1889 and had managed Sher- man's fight for re-election to the Senate in 1892. Me also was jealous of McKinley, believing firmly that he should have been elected President instead of McKinley. So it would have been sheer madness to have suggested to the fiery, proud, eloquent, brilliant, sensitive, and ambitious Foraker to make way for Hanna, his arch-enemy. But as a senatorial vacancy must he created to satisfy Manna's ambition, and as Foraker was utterly hopeless, it was made by inducing John Sherman to resign horn the Senate and to accept the Secretaryship of State. Hanna was first while who had made appointed, Foraker, Bushnell Gov- at the of ernor, like Saul of Tarsus stoning Stephen, stood much to his by consenting, very subsequent regret I n was elected for both the January, 1898, Manna short and of the bitterest and most long terms, after one scandalous All sorts of of fights in American history. charges brib- and ing and corruption, kidnapping general deviltry on air. Manna's enemies filed both sides filled the charges in the Senate, where he was acquitted, or, as his opponents "whitewashed." Men wondered expressed it, why he to a Cabinet preferred a senatorship position, and they had wondered still more why Sherman, who been a Rep- for six a Senator resentative in Congress years, for thirty- for two years, Secretary of the Treasury four years, and had been elected to the Senate for six years more, of which term two years remained, was willing to relinquish his seat therein, with whose duties he was thoroughly famil- a iar, to assume the duties of position of uncertain tenure, and with whose duties he was unfamiliar, since he had devoted the whole of his long and laborious life to eco- nomic questions. Men still wonder why he consented to the change. What the inducements were and what pressure, if any, was applied to him will probably never be divulged. I do not know, and I have never seen any- body who would give the inside history of that mystifying transaction. It is difficult to conceive that he believed that being Secretary of State would add one cubit to his stature as a statesman, and it is equally difficult to con- ceive that pressure could have been brought to bear on him, as he was at the age of seventy-four in possession of a curule chair with every reason to believe that he held his place in the Senate by life tenure. Having accepted the premiership of the administration His action set all signing. unexpected political tongues and heads to wagging. All sorts of guesses were made; were all all sorts of reasons assigned; sorts of predictions were indulged in; all sorts of whispers and innuendoes were heard as to a new Republican feud in Ohio, and all the Ohio feuds, both Republican and Democratic, and they are almost numberless were dug up and burnished into new life. Finally the politicians ranged themselves into two groups, one claiming that the venerable Sherman had been foully dealt with, asseverating that after being lured from the Senate by the bait of the Secretaryship of State in order to make room for Hanna, and having been used for the purposes of the McKinley-Hanna combine, he had been forced to resign from the Cabinet. What the Shermanites said about McKinley and Hanna was simply awful. The McKinleyites and Hannaites retorted that they had only performed a necessary public and in patriotic service ridding the Cabinet of Sherman's in presence, that he was his dotage, had incipient paresis, and that his senile babblings during a time of war were not only aggravating and humiliating, but most decidedly dangerous to the country. The Shermanites countered by swearing the charges aforesaid to be a pack of malicious and preposterous lies hatched for the purpose of justifying their cruelty to Sherman. The battle raged with great volubility and intense acrimony. Even the stirring events of the Spanish War did not induce people to cease from wrangling and jangling about Sherman's resignation. He died in a little over two years after retiring to private life, a sorely disappointed man. No doubt the dispute as to his political ta king-off still goes on in the outlying pre- cincts of Ohio, and will never end so long as the names of McKinley, Hanna, and Sherman arc remembered *i,,, r>.,~i r.,.. ..!, .1 i.. i r i in uun. nc YVVJUIU nui. to ate so anxious, IHLL, ugice resign his senatorship until Governor Bushnell had, after much to pressure and very reluctantly, agreed Appoint Hanna which the Governor did and which he bitterly regretted to his dying day. seems to that Croly also states, and prove it, sundry from persons endeavored to dissuade McKinley appoint- condition ing Sherman, because of his failing mentally and physically especially as to his memory; but, accord- thereto ing to Croly, McKinley urged by Hanna replied that few people knew of Sherman's failing strength; that he was universally regarded as an eminent statesman; of that his appointment as Secretary State would give immense prestige to his administration; and that by giv- ing him a vigorous, clear-headed Assistant Secretary of State to do the real work he would have the benefit of Sherman's famous name and sage advice, and things would work out all right. Consequently Sherman was appointed, and Judge William R. Day, of Ohio, his chief assistant. When Sherman resigned, Day became Secre- tary of State, headed the American Pence Commission to Paris, was subsequently United States Circuit Judge, and is now a member of the Federal Supreme Court. Whatever may be the exact truth, one thing is as clear as crystal, and that is that Sherman himself thought lie had been badly manhandled, and re-tired from the Cabi- net in high dudgeon, hating both McKinley and Hanna till death took him. Hon. Theodore E. Burton, a fine, scholarly man of Ohio, now of New York, who was both a Representative and a Senator in Congress, says, in his Life of John Sher- man: "It cannot be denied, however, that he left the Cabinet with a degree of bitterness toward President McKinley, more by reason of his practical supersession to the Cabinet to he had been transferred make room for Burton another in the Senate." appears to be an un- witness. prejudiced Senator Foraker, who hated both McKinley and Hanna who was not enamoured of Sher- savagely, and intensely man, in his Notes on a Busy Lije, in speaking of Sherman as Secretary of State, says: "As the weeks and months went by Mr. Sherman noticed that he was not conferred with and deferred to with respect to the important matters he had in charge to the full extent he thought he should be. He felt offended. Just what may have been said by him to the President or by the President to him I do not know, but I do know that no one in Washington official life was surprised when, finally, upon the declaration of war with his Spain, Mr. Sherman tendered resignation and the President accepted it. "Mr. Sherman continued to reside in Washington most of the time until his death in October, 1900. During all the time he was in the Cabinet, and thereafter until his death, he never lost an opportunity to show me the warmest friendship and the strongest good-will. He did not come very often to the Senate Chamber, but he visited there a number of times during this period. In each instance, when I did not happen to sec him as he en- tered, lie at once sent a page to notify me he was there and to request me to come and sit with him on a sofa in the rear of the Senators' seats, provided for the ac- commodation of those entitled to the privileges of the floor. "On no one of these occasions did he ever speak to Mr. Hanna, or ever speak of him, so far as I ;\m aware, except only once, when he askc-cl me if Senator lianna was then **- ,.^ to my lesiucui-c. ,,..-... v IAJIUUU and about the business of the its talked much Senate, agree, how much he had able character, and enjoyed his service he at time, in there. But never, any except the on e made instance mentioned, any^ inquiry about Senator his name in Hanna or mentioned any connection what- lie on ever; neither did ever, any occasion, speak of the or of the President or his administration any policies he He in his conversation with \vas pursuing. always, me, with to both, and what were was silent respect they doing! of as though he had never heard cither, from others with whom he "I know, however, did talk, that he felt deeply offended and that, "when he took occa- sion to speak on the subject, he usually said what for him were very bitter things. I know that his family shared this feeling to such an extent that when I attended his funeral at Mansfield I was told by one of the relatives that some flowers had been sent from the White House and that they had refused to receive them. I less "Hiiving heard all this, was surprised than I would otherwise have been when, on the first day of March, 1902, while en route from Washington to New York, I met on the- train Gen. Nelson A. Miles, whose wife was a daughter of Judge Charles T. Sherman, the Senator's brother, *ind was told by him that he had been carrying in his pocket for some time an autograph letter written by Mr. Sherman to somebody, he did not know to whom, but for some reason not mailed to the party for whom it was intended, but carefully filed with other papers that were to he made public after his death; that he was authorised to give it tn me fur such use as I might see fit to make of it. Me then produced the following letter, which on my return to Washington I placed in an envelop, where until now it has ever since remained, on Miles on train en route to to me by General New York, 2 -' March I, I9

"WASHINGTON, D. C, 8 November, 1898. "My DEAR Sin, Your note of the 6th inst. is received and I give you doubt I to have remained in the my hearty thanks. No ought Senate which would not have until the of during my term, expired 4th March J as a sincere and next. At that time regarded McKinley ardent assisted and whose election I had friend whom I had promoted. When the of of State I he urged me to accept position Secretary accepted with some reluctance and largely to promote the wishes of Mark Hanna. The result was that I lost the position both of Senator and I that both and arc Secretary, and hear McKinley Hanna pitying me I do care for failing memory and physical strength. not for their do not ask them favors, but wish to feel pity and any only independent of them, and conscious that, while they deprived me of the high office of Senator by the temporary appointment as Secretary of State, they have not lessened me in your opinion or in the good-will of the great States. Republican party of the United "Very truly yours, JOHN SHERMAN."

Finally Croly says: "In spite of Senator Sherman's lie Mr. professions of gratitude, never mentions Manna's name in the lengthy account of his final election to the Senate, which appears in his Reminiscences, Indeed, Mr, Hanna's name never appears in the entire book. The volume was published in 1895 and 1896, so that Mr. Sherman's later grievance against Mr. Hanna, if griev- ance it was, could have had nothing to do with the omission." Mr. Croly, in his book, reveals an astonishing fact touching the relations between McKinley and Hanna which few, very few, people ever heard oh That is that more than once there was a slight alienation of feelings betwixt the twain. The reason he assigns is more amaz- that weie ootn much positiveness they against the both Roosevelt's Spanish War and against nomination as Vice-President. I have gone into this McKmlcy-Sherman-Hanna mat- because it is one of the ter at length partly most mys- terious transactions in American history -and partly be- cause, when I was a very young man, I attended the of Cincinnati Law-school and got the hang Ohio politics. been more For two generations there has politics in Ohio on and I have than anywhere else earth, somewhat kept the run of things in that state. Somebody who, accord- has to ing to the life tables, thirty _or forty years live should write a book about "Ohio Political Vendettas, both Democratic and Republican." In interest it would double-discount all the books ever written about the mountain feuds in Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Vir- ginia. He would have superabundant materials in the relations of Allen G. Thurman and Vallamligham, Allen G. Thurman and his illustrious uncle, "Rise Up" William Allen, Pendleton and Payne, Chase and Wade, Sherman and Garfield, Sherman and Foraker, Sheinum and Mc- Kinley, Sherman and Hannn, Foraker and Hannn, Foraker and Taft, Foraker and Sherman, Payne and Drice, John R. McLean and Tom Johnson, Foraker and Harding, McLean and Hoadlcy, and others ad libitum. For years Ohio has been in the "presidential belt" for several reasons: First, because of its central location; second, because, while It has been reliably Republican, the bosses permitted it to go Democratic often enough in off years to maintain for their own benefit and behoof the fiction that Ohio was doubtful; third, because until quite recently they had an election every year which kept them in practice, figuratively speaking, they slept on tlipir urmc wii-Vi nnp PVP nm-n fnnri-li. hfT.'iitQf 1 Onto LUC twnoi.au L ui LIU; annual large extent uy v-rtiupaigmug the elections and limelight resulting therefrom. Ohio of had such a plethora aspiring statesmen that they one another and were in one another's jostled way. For example, either Chase or Wade would have had a reason- able show for the presidential nomination in 1860 had Ohio been united on one of them. Either Allen or Thur- man might have won in 1876, but both running put Ohio out of the reckoning. The same remark applies somewhat to Payne and Pendleton. In 1880 Sherman was a presi- dential candidate, and Garfield walked away with the much to the of glittering prize, very disgust Sherman and his friends. Sherman was again a candidate in 1884, hut the Ohio delegation was split. In 1888 he had for the first time a solid delegation on the surface from his own state, though one big Ohio paper declared that only fifteen of them were for him at heart. However that may be, they voted solidly for him so long as he seemed to have a ghost of a show, and even after that. Mark Hanna was hoping to nominate McKinley if Sherman failed, while Foraker offers persuasive evidence in his book that he could have been nominated himself had Sherman been generous enough to withdraw when Sher- man knew he had no chance to win and when everybody else in that convention knew the same thing. Even after Foraker knew that his presidential cake was dough he prevented Taft from getting a solid delegation from Ohio in 1908. Foraker seems to me to be the most pathetic figure in Ohio politics. He was an exceptionally handsome and brilliant figure. He was rated as a presidential possi- bility for twenty-five years. More than once he appeared to be a presidential probability; but something fatal to his ultimate ambition always happened. Twice he placed lot i -. nominated for distasteful to him. He was Governor four second and third times, elected the times, defeated the he been elected the first and fourth. Had fourth heat in all hum a a have 1889 he would in probability defeated Sherman for the Senate in January, 1892, and might have been nominated for President later that same year; but for Sherman defeated him decisively Senator, which gave a blow. his presidential aspirations solar-plexus Finally the he attained the Senate March 4., 1897, same day that his less brilliant and less eloquent rival, McKinley, reached the White House. of his John Adams, who had a temper own, and who hated Alexander Hamilton, of New York, boss of the Federalists, with absolute ferocity, once declared with much heat, while President, that "New York politics is the devil's own mess." It is really a pity that "the Sage of Braintree" did not live long enough to render an opinion upon the intricacies, plots, counterplots, and betrayals of of Ohio politics. The ordinary span human life is not sufficient time in which to understand them. It may well be doubted if anybody ever did completely comprehend them in their entirety and minutiae. So far as men and measures discussed in this book are concerned, I have endeavored to write the truth and to treat them fairly. Here is the truth, so far as I can as- certain it from amazingly contradictory evidence about Marcus A. Hanna. In private life he seems to have been kind-hearted, even affectionate. Physically he was a large man, and had a pleasant, though not a handsome, face. He had been solely a successful business man, amassing a large fortune while still in his prime, never running for office until 1897, when he was a candidate for United States to state and national delegates conventions, by attending and as a delegate himself, by managing campaigns as state and national chairman. His friendship for McKin- out of a chance while the latter was of ley grew meeting counsel in a lawsuit against him. He managed McKin- for both nomination and election. ley's campaign Croly all the for the says he paid expenses nomination out of his own pocket, which is hard to believe. Carrying the election was dead easy, as he had the biggest campaign fund in the history of the Republic. Nevertheless, as he was chairman, he reaped a great reputation. No doubt his friendship for McKinley love would be a more fitting word lured him into presidential politics in 1896, for he had been trying for twelve years to find a presidential opening for his idol. No man in American history was ever more savagely abused in public speech or the public and press. He was openly constantly charged with buy- his ing the Presidency for protege. Homer Davenport, in his cartoons, covered him with dollar-marks till people came to regard him as the almighty dollar incarnate. One day during the extra session of Congress in 1897 I sent my little seven-year-old son, Bennett Champ, over to the Senate with a note for Senator Cockrell. In a few min- utes he came running back with his eyes bulging out, and exclaimed: "Daddy, I saw Senator Mark Manna over there, and he didn't have any dollar-marks on him!" He was only a child, but his report tends to show how thoroughly the dollar-mark cartoon had done its work. When he entered the Senate he had never made a public speech in his life, though verging close on sixty. No one dreamed that he would become a strong senatorial de- bater, and yet that is precisely what lie did. He was panoplied with the prestige won as national chairman,

Kti- Viif nnctmirif ft '\t tii n A ! I- fii-r>*- -f-li-i-t- l\i\ -1*110 Mof-m^n/l 4-/\ uawm^u ^.. man; out it grauuuiy me /iiucucan mind The that he was a really strong speaker. fact that the was across the Isthmus of great canal dug ^Panama instead was due more to him than of across Nicaragua to any him on the other man. Those who heard stump united he was a success in that sort in testifying that of speech- when it is making which is astonishing remembered that to he was threescore before he began speak in public on fact is that the stage. Another remarkable millions of his was people thought that glory only reflected from that when died McKinley and McKinley Manna's light dimmed until it would be gradually completely disap- as a matter of historic truth he was a peared; but bigger man after the President's death than he was before. elements of Long before he died all the opposition to President Roosevelt were rallying to his support for the all the facts presidential nomination. When are con- sidered, his career after he entered the Senate must be the taken as another evidence of theory that the average American rises equal to any emergency in which he finds himself placed. It will be remembered that a Republican administra- tion conducted the war with Spain, and one would natu- rally conclude that the glamour attaching to that brief and highly successful conflict would j;ivc- the Republicans prestige so great as to enable them to elect the Mouse ol Representatives in the Fifty-sixth Congress easily and by an overwhelming majority. Nor. so, however. Quite the contrary. When that Congress convened they had only thirteen majority. A change of seven would have given the Democrats control. 1 havt- always believed, and believe now, that President McKinley's speaking tour through the Central West won the victory for the Republicans. Ostensibly he cschewi-d politics; butcvcry- as or tne is as contagious siimupox bubonic plague. Me- a Kinley was not only prince of stumpers, but was Repub- licanism in human form. He stirred his audiences to the depths. So eminent a Republican as Col. William Peters Hep- burn told me that the President's speeches elected him and captured the House of Representatives. CHAPTER XVI

McKmley and Roosevelt.

is absolutely certain that in our entire history no two ITmen so utterly unlike in every particularin thought, education, manner, personal characteristics, physique, tastes, methods, and public experience ever ran for President and Vice-President on the same ticket as Will- iam McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. In every way they were startling contrasts. If the Philadelphia Re- of had publican National Convention 1900 deliberately searched the land from sea to sea for the sole purpose of finding two eminent men who were the perfect antipodes of each other, they could not have succeeded better than when it selected the Major and the Colonel as their standard-bearers. McKinley was one of the gentlest, most modest, most diplomatic, and most gracious of all our public men. Roosevelt was brusk, abrupt, self-assertive, positive, and the most aggressive of mortals. McKinley took everything by the smooth handle, was a master in the art of pouring oil on the troubled waters. Roosevelt accomplished his purposes by the lion's paw and the eagle's claw. McKinley, in kindly fashion, persuaded mpn rn mtnnlv wit-h his wishps. Rnnscvrlr hriirod tliom made much capital and his opponents much fun. Roose- with velt was of the blond type, rugged features, eviden- force of all he cing the dynamic which, beyond question, no was possessed physically resembling other historic character whatsoever. Mentally and physically he was acted on the sui generis. McKinley philosophy that molasses catches more flies than vinegar. Roosevelt be- lieved in calling a spade a spade. The word "liar" was familiar to his tongue, and he founded the Ananias Club, chose its members, and thrust them in. McKinley was delicately framed, weighed about a hundred and sixty, and was five feet seven and one-fourth inches in stature, hut he had a way of walking, expanding his chest and carrying his head which made him appear taller and in he resembled larger which Gen. John C. Brccken- six ridge, of Kentucky. Roosevelt was nearly feet tall, weighed above two hundred, had a magnificent body which he kept in prime condition and was strong as a bull. McKinley was of sedentary habit, while Roosevelt took more exercise than any other occupant of the White House. He was as striking an example of what physical culture and outdoor life will do in converting a spindling boy into an exceedingly robust; man of rare endurance as could be found betwixt the two seas. lie bounced about like a rubber bull and was fond of associating with ath- letes, of whom he was one. McKrnley's .studies, reading, and speeches all ran to economics, Roosevelt's touched all subjects of human interest. He seemed as much at home in one place as another, and spoke with equal cock- sureness and vi-hfrnence on '.ill topics, whether before the learned Academicians of the Swbonne, or in Guild- hall explaining to the gaping and dumfounded Brit- ishers how to govern Egypt, or making a stump speech books, if he had attempted it. Koosevelt was a vo- of luminous author on a variety subjects always inter- was not a esting, if not profound. McKinlcy collegian. Roosevelt was a Harvard man. McKinley was a de- vout Methodist. Roosevelt was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church. McKinley was of Scotch descent. Roosevelt, on his father's side, was of Dutch extrac- a Miss tion, while his mother was Bullock, of Georgia. was McKinley taught school, practised law, prosecuting in attorney, long-time Representative Congress, chair- man of the Committee on Ways and Means, and Governor of Ohio. Roosevelt was a member of the beard was Legislature almost before his sprouted, Police Commissioner of New York, Civil Service Commissioner, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Governor of New York, and Vice-Prcsiclent. McKinley was reared on a farm. Roosevelt gathered health and strength as a cowboy in Dakota. With neither was the road to the White House smooth all the way. McKinley was unseated in a con- test in the House and finally beaten for re-election. Thomas B. Reed defeated him by only two votes for the Republican nomination for Speaker, when the nomina- tion was equivalent to the election. Roosevelt was de- feated for the mayoralty of New York, and sadly confided to his friends, so it is said, that his political career was at an end which it is difficult, indeed impossible, to believe. They were both soldiers McKinley in the Civil War, ending with the grade of major; Roosevelt in the Span- ish American War, with the runk of colonel. Both capi- tal stump speakers and of dill'm-nt: styles; both stanch Republicans each after his kind. Both masterful poli- ticians by methods wide apart as the poles. I have always said that had McKinley lived out his second trrm IIP \vtuiUl Iv.ivr- rnmnlcr

House doors in his face what then? I fow could lie, on the spur of the moment, have said anviliing to cure the on that problem in mental gymnastics a good deal, but I have never been able to solve the riddle. Gen. Winfield Scott acted as bis own Burcbard in his remark about "the hasty plate of soup," and his scornful declaration that he "never read The New York Herald." His illustrious namesake, Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, "the Superb," performed the same office for himself by his remark to the effect that "the tariff is a local ques- tion." That and Charles A. Dana's malicious squib that "General Hancock is a good man, weighing two hundred and fifty pounds," greatly militated against his election. In line with what Mr. McCleary told me is the follow- ing extract from Mr. Croly's Lift of Senator Marcus A. Hanna. Speaking of the paucity of letters and telegrams and William passing between Hanna McKinley, he says;

Only about a score of letters and some four telegrams . . . and the

of trivial in . . . great majority these are character. Mr. McKinley was in all his political relations an extremely wary man. Me early adopted the practice of not committing to paper any assertions or promises which might subsequently prove to be embarrassing; and even in the case of important conversations over the telephone he frequently took the precaution of having a witness at his end of the line. It is scarcely to be expected that any letters of Iiis will be of much assistance, cither to his own biographer or that of any political associate, in spite of, or rather because of, the fact that McKinley late in Ins life wrote too many of his letters with a biographer so much in mind. All impor- tant matters were discussed between the two men in private confer- ence. Later they were connected by a special telephone service.

In quoting that excerpt Senator Joseph Benson Foraker, in his Notes of a Busy Life, adds this cryptic remark:

One might infer from these comments that if the dictagraph had been known in his time, McKinley would have supplied himself with one for use in his conferences. thrust upon tnem. oo tar as can have greatness ^ be ascertained, very few men have deliberately gone after the Vice-Presidency, because the nomination of candi- dates for the Presidency generally determines the nomi- it is as nations for Vice-Prcsident. Usually given a sop of the to some prominent member defeated faction. it and it Among those who sought captured are Schuyler A. Colfax, Henry Wilson, and Garrett Hobart. White- law Reid secured the nomination, but was defeated at the election. Colonel Roosevelt has always claimed that he did not desire the vice-presidential nomination. "If so," his enemies and detractors ask, "why did he wear his mili- tary cocked hat to that convention? Simply to attract attention?" If so, he overdid it and attracted so much attention, engendering so much enthusiasm, that it enabled that astute politician, Thomas Collier Platt, aided and abetted by the astuter politician, Matthew Stanley Qua}', to force Senator Marcus A. Hanna's hand and compel the nomination of Roosevelt. Plan's sole aim was to get rid of Roosevelt and shelve him in the Vice-Presidency. It is said that Roosevelt was furious, though it was a streak of pure good luck and made him President which otherwise he might never have been. Senator Platt was happy as a boy with his first pair of red-topped boots at having "shelved Roosevelt" which, as it turned out, was to lead to his own political undoing. He was hoisted on his own petard. My own opinion is that Roosevelt was honest in saying that he did not want the Vice-Presidency. Why, then, the military cocked hat? Because he wanted to set people to talking about him so as to aid him in grabbing a presidential nomina- tion in 1904. From the time when he first learned there is such a high and mighty office lie began chnsinc it. 3 11J1- *oi.v-vi iiv- ii uo i(iv..wi till J30 UJII llll|JUI I ill It factor in human affairs. One reason why McKinley was at all times in perfect if not in absolute with peace, accord, Congress was that he had served many years in the House and understood thoroughly and well its idiosyncrasies, its prejudices, its its and its de jealousies, clannishness, esprit corps; and one reason why Roosevelt had such an uproarious and un- with the pleasant experience Congress was that he had never served in either House or Senate, did not under- did not stand them, and care a fig what they thought, thereby creating superfluous and unfortunate frictions and antagonisms. The one was a diplomat; the other a fighter. The late Richard W. Austin, of the Knoxville, Tennes- see, district, once the home of both Andrew Johnson and "Parson" Brownlow, was a most lovable man who boasted that he never voted for a tax or against an appropriation. By his familiars he is called "Alabama Dick," because while a citizen of that state he had the temerity to run twice on the Republican ticket for Congress against Gen. Joe Wheeler, which most Democrats considered a species of sacrilege. Austin found the political pastures greener and more lush in East Tennessee, where there arc more Republicans to the square inch than anywhere else on earth.

Austin was fond of telling stories to illustrate the rich humor of his long-time friend and erstwhile colleague, Walter P. Brownlow. Everybody knows that while in the House President McKinley was a strong advocate of silver. So was Brownlow. Austin said chat in 1896 Brownlow was stumping East Tc-nnessce and making red- hot speeches for McKinley, bur also whooping it up at a lively rate for free silver coinage. Mr. Chairman Marcus cut out his advocacy of silver, since Major McKinley was a running as the Sound Money candidate on gold-standard answered somewhat in platform. Brownlow this wise; "Dear Mr. Chairman, I regret exceedingly if I have offended. The most eloquent Silver speech I ever heard fall from human lips was made by Major McKmley some he had years ago. I did not know changed his views, and was going up and down quoting his remarks on the conform coinage question. I will, however, my speech to your suggestions, but I beg of you that, should he again change his views, you will telegraph me notice in advance so that I can still work in harmony with our great leader!" When Colonel Roosevelt chose he could make himself and very agreeable indeed. His large varied store of information, his peculiarly emphatic style of conversa- tion which frequently ran into monologue his expe- riences as hunter, soldier, traveler, discoverer, public speaker, statesman, author, cowbo)', his intense earnest- ness, his amazing success in many fields of human en- deavor, his rare and infectious enthusiasm these things rendered him a unique and commanding figure in any company. With his friends he was free and easy, not being overloaded with dignity. When in 1903 he made his long electioneering trip to Oregon, he traveled through my Congressional district for about one hundred miles rm the Burlington Railroad. My constituents asked me to introduce him at the various stopping-places, which I was ghul to do. He and I were on good terms, and it was a courtesy I owed him. I did not suppose that anybody would try to hurt him, but I thought 1 might prevent the over-enthusiastic or over- stimulated from annoying him with demonstrations too intimate or too boisterous in their nature. I met him at

H:mnihfll. whe.ro. ho nddroRSPfl '.\ fmo nudirnro. romnosctl in Missouri -a fact popular mathematically demon- strated when he carried that rock-ribbed Democratic stronghold in November, 1904, by thirty thousand the first majority, being Republican presidential candi- date to carry it subsequent to 1868. I have been told that he was very proud of that fact his pride being thor- oughly justified, for it was far more a personal than a political triumph. When we boarded his special train he invited Howard Elliott, Judge Adams, Judge Dyer, United States Marshal Morsey, and myself, with perhaps some others, to lunch with him in his private car. It was an entirely informal affair. Merriment was uncon fined. He was in high feather, being hugely pleased with his reception in Mis- souri. Everybody chipped into the conversation. It so happened that while on his long journey one of his small sons had the measles. The boy wanted to go to the barn to see his Shetland pony. His mother would not let him go, fearing that he might catch cold. So the little chap induced the colored hostler to take the tiny pony into the White House basement, put him into the elevator, and hoist him up-stairs to his room. I asked the President what lie thought of that performance. "Bully!" he exclaimed. "By George! it's the funniest caper I ever heard of. Don't you know that boy thinks more of that colored man than he does of me?" and he threw his head back and laughed so uproariously as to be heard above the rattle of the train. I told him that was usually the case with boys reared with colored folks. I had an experience with him which demonstrated in a. pleasing way his kindness of heart. At a certain stage of the prc-convcntion canvass ic looked as though Sena- tor Marcus A. Hanna would give the President a hard *,,,.! f^^ .!,,. i) i.i' : :,... r\c __ _ :, of the two. 1 herefore 1 wanted to see him nominated. in Missouri did The Republican situation not look pro- men constituted pitious for him. The Hanna only about two-fifths of the Republicans in the state, but they were seasoned veterans, well organized, while Roosevelt's fol- lowers, constituting about three-fifths, were leaderless and unorganized. I concluded that a friendly tip from a dis- interested Democratic friend well acquainted in the state might help him. So one morning I went over to the White House, accompanied by my son, Bennett Champ, lately a colonel in our army in France, then a chunk of a boy. After talking to the President about two or three small matters of official business I said, "Mr. President, some time before long, if you can find a few minutes of leisure, let me know and I will come down and tell you something to your personal advantage of a political nature." He replied: "Wait till I can get rid of these people" waving his hand toward a. bevy of folks "and we'll have that talk, now." After his visitors departed he and I, followed by my young son, went into his private room. He and I sat down on a sofa, and I began to explain to him how to capture the thirty-six Missouri delegates to the convention by sending for a half-dozen men whom I named, and setting them to organizing his forces, etc. He had a magnificent stuffed eagle on his table, and my son was examining the splendid bird with much pleasure and curiosity. Right in the middle of my explanation of how he could bag the Missouri delegates the President noticed the boy's admiration of his eagle. He left me, went over to where the boy and eagle were, explained what sort of eagle he was, where he came from, who pre- sented him, how he was differentiated from all other (Tiffins;, nnrl nnw IIP xvnc mnrln tn cf'incl nwft- T linn hr the I (lone credit to any professional m land. he boy was so was I. Then the President delighted, and came back to the sofa and I finished my message, for which he thanked me very cordially and on which he said he would act. Senator Hanna, however, died shortly after, and the colonel had no opposition for the nomination. Most assuredly the President who would take such and instruct a little he pains to please boy whom had never seen before and would probably never sec again was a kind-hearted man. That is one of my most pleas- ant memories of this most extraordinary man. It is generally believed that Colonel Roosevelt monop- olized the talking part on all occasions. He did gener- a bunch of ally, but not always. Once distinguished Missourians, headed by Walter Williams, dean of the Missouri School of Journalism, one of the most brilliant men in the state, came to Washington to invite the Presi- dent to deliver the address to the graduates of the Uni- versity of Missouri. They stopped at the Willard and asked the Missouri delegation in the House and Senate to accompany them and back up their Invitation. I hap- pened to walk over to the White House with Williams. En route I asked him who was to speak for them. He replied that he was. So I said: "I will give you a word of caution. The President has the reputation of doing ;ill the talking in such matters. If you let him break in on you you will never finish your speech/' Williams evi- dently pondered my words in his heart, for as soon as I introduced them he began his remarks, and shot them into the President with the rapidity of an automatic pistol. The latter several times lifted his right hand, clenched his list, shook his head, opened his mouth, and started to speak, but Williams kept firing into him till he n-i-if- til ,.,-.,11 K . rn.-ir .^-.i.^K t.r* li^n mint n .*,.,. nnrl t-f\ -I- It it- i- ov,x-.*_v> ... ms nerve, rxi. Any ia\.t, *&** &wvu numor, and after some jovial remarks promised to accept the invitation, provided he did not find it incompatible with public business. This same Walter Williams was author of the finest of a epigram made in a quarter centuiy. Among of the other things he was superintendent biggest Sunday, school in America. One morning in a speech to his flock has he said, "Young gentlemen, Fame snatched men from and the the plow, the forge, carpenter's bench, but Fame never reached over a picket fence and yanked a dude out of a hammock.'* I at the White On another occasion was House to keep an appointment with President Roosevelt. The Texas the delegation was ahead of me to urge appointment of ex-Gov. Joseph D. Sayers as Panama Canal Commis- sioner. It was hot weather, the doors were open, and, while not eavesdropping, I could not help hearing what they were saying. As I had served in the House with Sayers, I was anxious to know how they came out. As they were leaving I inquired. One of them said: "We don't know. I don't see how the President ever learned anything, for he persists in doing all the talking. He does not give anybody else a chance. We told him that all Texas wanted Governor Sayers appointed Canal Commissioner, and started in to tell him about Sayers but we never got any farther. He took the conversation away from us, told us all about the Governor and all about the Canal; how he was going to have it constructed, and how much it would benefit the world in general and America in particular. He expanded on the history of canals, especially the Suez Canal. lie wound up by giving us an extended biography of Count De Lesseps but what the prospects of Governor Sayers for that canal wonaeirui niumui/ auu umu.sLij'. wnuu upon a time seven cadets at Annapolis were court-martialed nnd dis- missed from the Academy. Among them was one whom son of a I had nominated Republican postmaster, who had won it in a competitive examination which I ordered. The boy wrote me that he had not had a fair trial. Con- I to of sequently went Mr. Secretary the Navy Bonaparte to examine the transcript of the proceedings. The boy was charged with having stood five other cadets on their heads not a monstrous crime, but everybody was tired of hazing, and he was thrown out. I read every word of the testimony (seven pages closely typewritten legal cap) and found that the evidence fully sustained the five counts of guilty by the court martial As his offenses were not heinous, I inquired of Mr, Secretary Bonaparte if he thought the President would approve the findings of the court martial. He said, "Yes." A few days later somebody told me that the chairman of the Naval Affairs Committee in the House was going to introduce a joint resolution authorizing the President to reinstate two of the seven expelled cadets, and that my cadet was not one of the two. I went to the chairman and asked him if the report was true. He said it was.

I told him I would defeat his resolution if it was the last act of my life, I was willing all should get back or all should stay out, but that they should not make fowl of some and fish of others. He gave up the idea, and I heard no more about it. Just two days before the session ended, however, I learned that Senator Hale of Maine, chairman of the Senate Naval Committee, had secured the passage of a Senate joint resolution authorizing the President to re- instate any or all of the seven, as appeared to him best for the public service a polite wav of whipping; his lution I could not save him afterward, because the Presi- dent and I were both billed to leave Washington the moment the Congress adjourned, and that I would have no chance to see him. In my interview with him I said: "Mr. President, if the Hale resolution about those seven expelled naval cadets passes the House, do you purpose to reinstate my cadet?" "No, sir; no, sir," he replied. "He is a bad egg and I will not reinstate him." "All right," I answered. "I will kill the resolution. As there are only two days left, I can kill it, and will kill it." Then he started in to tell me about my cadet's case. I said: "Mr. President, if you are not going to reinstate him there is no use in wasting your time talking about it." He replied that he was going to tell me for his own satis- faction. Thereupon he repeated substantial!}' the entire transcript of seven closely typewritten pages of legal cap, and wound up by saying: "He was convicted on five counts, and if you and I had been sitting on that court martial we would both have voted for conviction." Then he proceeded to repeat the transcripts in the other six cases. Among other things he said: "You know that I am not seeking opportunities to please Senator Tillman, but his cadet was guilty only of a bare technical violation of the rules. If the court martial had had any sense it would have given him some slight punishment and would not have expelled him. I am going to reinstate him in spite of Senator Tillman, if the Hale resolution passes the House" which it did not do, for I killed it dead as a door-nail. I left the White House marveling at such manifestation of the prodigious memory of the President, who had so many more important things to carry around in his head. I wonder vet how he found time in his multitudinous Here is another illustration of President Roosevelt's industry and many-sidedness. One morning at the White House I was third in the procession, or reception line. Representative Granger of Rhode Island, a mild- mannered man, had with him a half-do'/en prominent a Jews. They presented petition signed by thousands of their brethren, asking that the President send our fleet into the North Sea to overawe the Russians and to com- to treat the with flew pel them Jews justice. He into a the he roasted passion, and way Granger and the Jews was enough to make each particular hair to stand on end like quills upon the fretful porcupine, and wound up by exclaiming loud enough for a large roomful of people to hear, "What in God's name would the world think of us if we undertook to bully the Russian government into changing its policy toward the Russian Jews, while we are constantly lynching colored citizens down South?" which greatly abashed Representative Granger and his friends. They departed sorrowfully. Next entered "the august presence" a handsome, fashionably dressed, intelligent woman of Hibernian ex- traction, with whom the President seemed to be ac- quainted, for he greeted her most cordially. She started in to discuss with him the relative merits of certain Irish poets. He cut her ofF in the middle of a sentence by saying: "My dear madam, I have no time to discuss the Irish poets to-day, hut if you will buy the current number of such and such a tiKiga/inc you will find a forty-page article which I wrote on 'The Irish SagasM" Whether she bought one I do not know, but I did, to see if he was stringing her to be rid of her. Sure enough there was the article. Again f wondered how he found time to do such things as that; and the mystery has never been weird stones; and he appeared to enjoy shocking people as much as Poe did. When the corner-stone of the vast the House Office marble pile denominated Building was laid the President was the orator of the day. He was in fine fettle. It was a lovely day in May. The audience ladies was large and distinguished. The were decked out in their best bibs and tuckers. The men wore their Sunday clothes. We were all there to have a good time. The President sailed in. Pie made a flamboyant Fourth- an for of-July speech for ten minutes, uplift speech fifteen, skinned the muckrakers within an inch of their lives, and delivered a few light taps on Democratic ribs. The mouths of the eminent Republican magnates were spread in smiles reaching from ear to car. They were having the time of their lives, when suddenly, without any con- nection whatever with anything he had said, apropos of nothing, he declared vehemently for both a graduated income tax and a graduated inheritance tax. The Dem- ocrats were jubilant and applauded hilariously, while the smiles froze on the faces of the Republicans. They would not have been more astonished if he had struck them betwixt the eyes with a maul. They had to pinch themselves to see if they were awake. The President seemed to be delighted with the sensation he had created and the consternation which he had wrought among Re- publican statesmen. Their curses on him for that speech were not only deep, but loud. When I was a very young man attending the Cincin- nati Law-school I was at a mammoth Democratic mass- meeting in the Grand Opera House to protest against Gen. Philip H. Sheridan's action in pitching the Louisiana Legislature out of the windows with his bayonets. I should say one of the Louisiana Legislatures, for they had the welkin with their hot and split indignant eloquence. At last appeared United States Senator George H. Pen- as he clleton "Gentleman ^George," was universally of called then in the prime his manly beauty and splen- did powers. To witness the ovation given him was worth ten years of peaceful life. I say again that were I to dis- count the remarkable age of Methuselah I would never sentence forget his opening "The sweetest incense that ever greeted the nostrils of a public man is the applause of the people"- as exquisite a mot as was ever uttered. Perhaps President Roosevelt never heard of Pendleton's he to be saying, but seemed of like mind, for it may be safely stated that no man ever more thoroughly enjoyed popular applause than did he certainly no man ever received more of it. When he made his famous trip down the Mississippi by boat he was met by a tremen- dous concourse of hysterically cheering people at the St. Louis wharf. He was to speak at the Jai Alai Building some three or four miles from the river. He went out in an automobile, through Innes of shouting people, the rain pouring down in torrents. He stood up bareheaded to return the greetings of the multitude. The committee begged him to sit down under an umbrella. He replied: "No, if these good people are c;igcr enough to sec me to stand in this heavy rain for hours, they shall not be disap- pointed of their pleasure." On arriving at the Jai Alai he was soaked to the skin. He began his speech with this witticism: "if this speech is dry, it's the only dry thing about me!" These tilings which I have set down here nrc not among his great achievements, but they are pleasant incidents of his busy life. The important acts and far-resounding utterances on LIU, ..v. ... ^..^ on tne piaciuiui, m p...|j..., ^wn^icss tnat them here would be a work of to discuss _ supererogation. but it The world knows tlicm by heart; gives me un- to throw these feigned pleasure side-lights upon the char- the most acter and career of extraordinary man who lias chair. filled the presidential of interest to state that in three It may be 1912 presi- dential candidates, President Taft, Governor Harmon, or from or to use and myself, graduated at the formula of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, "were graduated from"- the Cincinnati Law-school; but the Princctonian walked away "with the bacon." Of all the fantastic capers that President Roosevelt ever cut before high heaven, the most astounding and the bi'/.arre was his performance at Gridiron Club ia January, 1907. The Gridiron is the most famous club in America. Its active membership is composed entirely of Washington is limited to in that newspaper men and forty, regard resembling the French "Immortals." It has a long wait- of ing-list also a small number honorary members. The it should be a original design was that good-fellowship lias not society. While that idea been abandoned, it lias gradually taken on other and more serious features, some of a political tinge. To attend one of its banquets with its "show," skits, songs, humor, speeches, and im- personations is a rare: treat, provided you know positively that you will not be culled upon to speak. When a pub- lic man is firsi invited as a guest lie knows that he has been recognised as a "comer." Mnsi of the prominent men of two generations have stretched iheir legs under Gridiron mahogany. Most of ihe successful public speakers and some not successful have exercised their voices in Gridiron baiuuict-halls. uy m\y limn LIIL in- wuuiu. uc wuiuig co pay, the is taken in bad part by Gridironers. They have two rules: First, "Ladies are always pres- ent" which they never are; second, "Reporters ace never present" and they always are, in large numbers at that. The first rule is fair warning to all speakers to use only chaste language. The second rule is to have guests speak their minds freely knowing that their remarks will not be reported. It is a hundrcd-to-one shot that any orator that vio- lated the spirit of rule one would never receive another invitation to a Gridiron banquet. Even rule two was violated on one notable occasion, without the club's consent, as I shall relate. At least one of President Wilson's speeches was pub- lished with the consent of the club.

At the January banquet of 1907 a startling and thrilling stunt was pulled off the most startling and thrilling I ever witnessed, absolutely unique and unprecedented in char- acter, and perhaps never to be duplicated in this world. I saw and heard a debate before two or three hundred men between President Roosevelt and Senator Joseph Benson Forakcr, of Ohio. According to my judgment to use pugilistic parlance the bout ended in a draw, though the sympathy of the majority of the audience was with the Senator because he was attacked by the Presi- dent and was therefore fighting on the defensive. It is only truth and justice to say that he held his own fairly well that night; but it is also only truth and justice to say that that debate was the culmination of the feud betwixt him and the President, which practically elim- inated him as a presidential candidate. No doubt when Colonel Roosevelt recalled that night he remembered UCLWUU. uiem The chief matter in concruveisy was the a action of the President in discharging whole battalion of colored troops at Brownsville, Texas, without honor. some ten or fifteen colored It was claimed that troopers killed one shot up the town one night, man, wounded and conducted another, fired into a building, themselves a most obstreperous and offensive generally in way. a Senator Foraker had introduced resolution to investi- and it the gate the whole matter, got through Senate. able to find President Roosevelt, not being out, after all sorts of investigations, which particular men committed the whole battalion the outrage, discharged without honor. on the In commenting in the House Brownsville row, I that it had eliminated said, among other things, Senator Foraker from the presidential equation and defeated him for Senator. In his book entitled Nates of a Itusy Life which, by the would have way, is what Horace Greelcy called "very Professor interesting reading," and what Squeers, of Dothcboys Hall, would have denominated "richness" he I in the first that says that was right proposition; is, that the Brownsville affair eliminated him from the presi- dential race; but that I was wrong about it defeating him for the Senate. However that may be, these two eminent gentlemen had it out at the Gridiron Club, to the utter amazement of all within sound of their voices. Here is the setting of the scene: A table on a raised of the Willard platform ran the whole length New big dining-room. Those who were to speak, and other extra- prominent people, were silting at that table. The other tables ran into the speakers' table ;ir right angles, making the famous Gridiron. President Roosevelt sat to the rlo-lir nf flip nrpttirlc-tir nf flir rlnh Virr-lVoiidfnf Fair- sat next to the J. Pierpont Morgan foreign minister, I sat second from this long table at the first table on the of the club. left of the president Melville E. Stone, presi- dent of the Associated Press, sat in between me and the long table. Dick Lindsay, of The Kansas City Star, whose I sat next guest was particularly, to me, all of which within ten or fifteen feet of putting me President Roose- velt. Senator Foraker sat at the foot of the first table on the right of the president of the club, so when he swung out in the aisle to make his speech he faced President Roosevelt directly at the distance of perhaps one hun- dred and fifty feet. In due course President Roosevelt was called on for a speech. He spoke for about thirty minutes with the utmost vigor about railroad-rate regulation, concerning which he was at loggerheads with Senator Foraker. In a general way he spoke about reform legislation, and he did not mince matters. In the midst of this speech he turned around, shook his fist in the general direction of J. Pierpont Morgan, H. H, Rogers, and other railroad and financial magnates, and in the tersest language possible he told them that they had better join in with him and carry out the reasonable re- form measures which he advocated, asserting that if they did not aid him in rational reforms they would fall into the hands of the mob, which would do all sorts of things to them. After he was through talking on that string, he opened up on the Brownsville quarrel, and made some direct references to Senator Foraker, and undertook to justify himself in the most vigorous fashion for what he had done the touching Brownsville colored troops, stating that he had done what was right and what he conceived to be u n A i ^ iv ^ ^ ^ i u iv i u 446 MY y

at Foraker, as Forakcr had been the chief shooting oppo- the Roosevelt policy in that matter. nent to Everybody was bad blood between knew that there them, and had and were been for some time, many wondering whether would fight back or not. To Senator Foraker p ut i t excitement ran mildly very mildly mountain-high. As Roosevelt sat down the soon as President president of arose and said; the club, Samuel G. Blythc, "Now is the I introduce time for bloody sarcasm. Senator Foraker Mr. Chairman been all of Ohio." Had BIythe the major into he could not have hit the prophets rolled one, bull's- eye nearer the center. Foraker was a very handsome man, over six feet in over stature, weighing slightly two hundred pounds, with as as fine a shock of iron-gray hair was ever on a man's address club head. When he arose to the his face was as white as a sheet. Evidently he was mad through and after lie through. In five minutes began his speech his face was as red as the stripes on the flag. lie should have that he had his picture taken night when was making so that speech. If he had done he would have come down to posterity as James Stecrforth wished to be re- membered "at his best." He did not dodge at all. He his blows gave blow for blow, and behind he put all the steam of which he was possessed. Me endeavored, in the to his plainest language possible, justify opposition tc Roosevelt's railroad-rate bill, and ;ill of his other reform measures th.it he had opposed, He finally got on to the

Brownsville business, and vigorously defended the troops and himself. Me denounced the President's conduct as White House he has the drop on me; if I make a speech Senate about him iti the he cannot answer it; but I wish that I free it distinctly understood am born, white, over of and the of thirty years ago, people Ohio have honored me many times with high positions and sent me to the Senate twice. I did not come to the Senate to take orders from anybody, either at this end of the line or the other. Whenever I fall so low that I cannot express my opinion on a great question freely, and without reservation or mental evasion, I will resign and leave my place to some man who has the courage to discharge his duties/' This of is a very brief outline what Senator Foraker said. He- spoke about twenty minutes, as nearly as I can recollect. While Foraker was speaking President Roosevelt was his his gritting his teeth, clenching fist, shaking head, and muttering: "That is not so; I am going to answer that; that is not true; I will not stand for it," and similar remarks. Three or four times he started to get up to interrupt Senator Foraker, and Mr. Justice Marian and other more or less ancient personages kept him from interrupting Foraker. The very minute that Senator Foraker sat down the President jumped up like a "jack-out-of-thc-box," and without waiting for anybody to introduce him, began his reply to Senator Foraker. It was red-hot. He delivered his blows without any gloves on. He was intensely bitter and very much excited. In reviewing the Brownsville episode, he said something like this: "Some of those men were bloody butchers; they ought to be hung. The only reason that I didn't have them hung was because I couldn't find out which ones of them did the shooting. None of the battalion would testify against them, and I ordered the whole battalion discharged without honor.

It 1C fn \r Kli f I n (iff 'iii/l *Mn IMI r>m AL><* f\t MrtK*t/lt/ ctlcia It- if I will veto resolution to reinstate these men, it; if they I will no pass It over my veto, pay attention to it. I welcome impeachment 1" It is hardly over-stating the case to say that he took the breath of that great audience away they fairly gasped. As President Roosevelt concluded Mr. Speaker Cannon was introduced. Usually he was one of the most popular speakers at a Gridiron dinner; but so great was the ex- citement that not a soul paid the slightest attention to what he said, except myself, and I was listening to see what he was going to say about the tariff. There was a universal buzz all about the room. President Blythe, seeing the situation, adjourned the club immediately. The guests rushed out two or three in company, and in the elevator and down in the lobby they were all discuss- ing the thing sotto "Joce. While Uncle Joe was making his speech, I turned to Melville E. Stone and Dick Lindsay and said that I could tell them how to pull off the greatest sensation since Presi- dent McKinley was shot. I told them to send out a ver- batim copy of the debate of President Roosevelt and Senator Foraker, notwithstanding the standing rule of the club. They hooted at the idea, and said that if any one had surreptitiously taken a stenographic report of the debate no reputable paper would publish it. Never- theless and notwithstanding the thing leaked out. The Washington Post said that that was too important a matter to be hushed up by any rule of the club's etiquette. One strange and interesting result growing out of the excitement created by that debate was that we lost half the dinner, beginning with the hot birds. Usually when I go to a banquet I cannot sleep very well, but that night I went home and slept like a top. Next morning, before Then I kept running it back until I found that we missed about half of the dinner. What happened was that when Senator Foraker arose to address the banqueters the waiters started in with the hot birds. President Blythe shooed them out of the room. When the President started in the second time the waiters again started in with the hot birds. Blythe shooed them out again, and they never inside that poked their heads dining-room that night I think I am correct in again. entirely stating that that case is the only on record where a President of the United States had a debate with any human being in the presence of a large audience. Finally, it should be stated that President Roosevelt had his way that the colored bat- talion was never reinstated. Senator Foraker persisted in having his name presented to the Republican National Convention in 1908, but re- ceived only a handful of votes sixteen, my recollection is; three of them from Ohio. He states in his book that he knew that he had no show to be nominated; that the reason he was a candidate was he hoped that among them they could muster enough votes to nominate some man like Senator Fairbanks over President Taft. Lord Melbourne said: "I wish I felt as cocksure about any one thing as Tom Macaulay is about everything." Listening to Colonel Roosevelt or reading his produc- tions, one had the same sort of feeling as to him. He died at the early age of sixty, undoubtedly the fore- most private citizen of the world.

VOL. I. 21) CHAPTER XVII

Colonel Roosevelt.

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT once said: "I had a * corking time while in the White House/' and there is no doubt that he did. Perhaps his language in stating his pleasure therein shocked the esthetes, but he cared not a whit for that. He was the youngest of our Presi- dents, being only forty-three when he was sworn in the first time young enough to enjoy life and power to the full; and he was not at all squeamish about exercising to the limit all the functions and prerogatives devolved upon his high office by the Constitution and the statutes and then some. There was as tory floating around, perhaps apocry- phal, but nevertheless illustrative of what the people conceived to be his mental attitude toward the Con- stitution. He was telling a friend of his anxiety to have a certain bill passed, and his surprise that Senators op- posed it because they deemed it unconstitutional. His friend replied that he had some eminent lawyers in his Cabinet and he would do well to seek their opinion. "Oh," replied the President, "I have done that, and the strange thing about it is that they all say it is uncon- stitutional!'* The truth is that, not being a lawyer, he had only what Governor Dinglcy would have denominated "surface in- when the latter exclaimed, "John Marshall has rendered let's see him enforce itl" his opinion now Frederick the Great sometimes kicked the shins of his to force them to render decisions to him. judges agreeable and Roosevelt did not that but re- Jackson go far, they served to themselves the right to construe the Constitu- tion themselves. Having read all of Roosevelt's writings, according to my way of thinking the two men whom he admired most were Oliver Cromwell and Andrew Jackson. He sadly underestimated Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, John others of his Tyler, and perhaps predecessors; but he sincerely admired the Iron Soldier of the Hermitage as well he might, for he was well worthy of the love and admiration of all genuine Americans. I always imagined that President Roosevelt deemed himself a sort of com- bined Cromwell and Jackson. The only really heated argument that President Roosevelt and I ever had was about Thomas Jefferson, he assailing and I defending the author of the immortal Declaration. There can be no two opinions as to the fact that Roose- velt was one of the most extraordinary characters in our history extraordinary being the word which most fitly describes him. lie tried his hand in more fields of human endeavor than did any other of our Presidents legislator, cowboy, subordinate civil functionary, soldier, Governor, Vice-President, President, statesman, author, hunter, ex- plorer, discoverer, public speaker and in all he succeeded excellently well; in some, amazingly well. He defied and scouted all the traditions of men from Job when he said, "Oh, that my adversary had written a book!" down to the Articles of War. The Man of Uz evidently believed that if a man wrote a book it would power. For instance, in his Life of Col. Thomas Hart Benton, he pronounced this opinion on Gen. Robert E. Lee: "The world has never seen better soldiers than those who fol- lowed Lee, and their leader will undoubtedly rank as with- of all out any exception the very greatest the great cap- tains that the English-speaking peoples have brought forth; and this although the last and chief of his antag- onists may himself claim to stand as the full equal of Marlborough and Wellington." That is not only one of the finest sentences he ever wrote, considered entirely from a literary standpoint, but one of the most courageous, considered from a political point of view. He did not write that magnificent char- acterization of the renowned Virginian because his own mother was a Southerner a fact of which he was justly proud. It cannot be accounted for by reason of his fellow-feeling for a soldier, because when he wrote his Life of Benton he had never donned a uniform, but he blurted it out because it was his honest opinion, and he proposed for the world to know it. More courage was required for him a Republican candidate for President from his youth up to write that sentence than to charge the Spaniards in battle array. Many other men held the same idea and voiced it in their own fashion sometimes to help themselves politically. But while Lee's veterans, who idolized him, together with their descendants, neigh- bors, and friends, were highly pleased with Roosevelt's lofty and finely phrased estimate of him, they could not help him politically; but in the North, where Republi- cans most abound, the woods were full of the followers of Grant and Sherman, together with the legions of descend- ants, neighbors, and friends, who could easily crush the tion of Lee, for it must be remembered that it was years he wrote of the illustrious ago that Confederate, and at a time when the passions engendered by the titanic struggle between the states were still at white heat. The sentence about Lee, in its complete characteriza- tion, has always reminded me of Jefferson's opinion of James Monroe, "Monroe is so pure that you might turn his soul inside out and not find a blot upon it" certainly a sweeping eulogy. If it required courage for Roosevelt to write this of Lee, it also required cournge for him to denominate James Monroe as "a mediocre President" Monroe immortal as the author of the Monroe Doctrine, the political life-preserver of the Western World and the most important contribution to the inchoate Code of International Law which we forced into that code by strong-arm methods, and which President Roosevelt, as President, not only upheld, but considerably expanded by brandishing his "big stick.'* There has been so much written and spoken about him that I will mention only a few of his deeds which seem to me out of the ordinary. The wisest political thing he ever did for himself, in my judgment, was when, coming into the Presidency accidentally, and standing by McKin- ley's coffin, he voluntarily stated that he would pursue the McKinley policies, which he did, until he was elected and inaugurated in his own right. He even went so far in that direction as to appoint certain men to high posi- tions for the reason that he was made to believe that President McKinley wanted them appointed. Physically he was as active as a cat, always in perfect fettle, and he thought everybody else particularly soldiers should be. As all of them wished to stand well at court, he put many fat, swivel-chair warriors through stunts horseback to Winchester, Virginia, and return which for htm was only a holiday performance and that all field officers in and about Washington should do the same, they were surprised, amazed, astounded, dumfounded; but they were afraid to refuse. So they all rode to Winchester, ninety miles away, and some of the heftiest, who hadn't straddled a horse for thirty or forty years, returned to the finest capital in the world, saddle-sore, muscle-sore, heart-sore, and went to bed for a week, using up so much arnica that the local supply was ex- hausted while the world wondered and guffawed, the athletic young man in the White House guffawing loudest of all. It wasn't so wild a ride as Mazeppa's, or John Gil- pin's, or Paul Revere's, but there was more fun in it for the President and for those who did not do the riding. No doubt the Falstaffian officers deemed him crazy, but there was method in his madness. It was a broad hint very broad that officers entitled to ride horses should keep themselves fit to do that thing. Another of his famous equestrian stunts was to take Prince Henry of Germany on a long ride through Rock Creek Park when all signs indicated a heavy downpour of rain, which came and drenched them both to the skin. What His Royal and Imperial Highness thought of that is not known at least not by me. Notwithstanding the fact that President Roosevelt liked to unload the burdens of state, and relieve himself from the conversation and demands of big-bore states- men and insistent pie-hunters, by consorting even in the sacred precincts of the White House with such wild and woolly Westerners as Buffalo Bill, Bat Masterson, Ben Milam, and Buffalo Jones, a habit which some good peo- rln rnllinre t-lipir PVPC fnwnrrl Tipavcn. rnnrlpmmrl VIP W.T; Most of his speeches and many of his messages to Con- what nor be termed gress were may improperly lay- sermons. His critics claimed they were composed of ancient platitudes, but the people heard him gladly, and he went on his way bruskly, vehemently, and triumphantly. He played quarter-staff with Gen. Leonard Wood cer- tainly a man's game boxed with pugilists, played tennis, and otherwise trained his muscles and his legs so that he the of condition. kept himself in pink It is told in Washington that, in playing at quarter- staff with General Wood, the President gave him such a thwack on the cranium as to make him limp slightly. Shortly before his death, Colonel Roosevelt stated that in a pugilistic bout in the White House the sight of one of his eyes was destroyed. He was a law unto himself, and cared little for the pro- prieties, as was frequently demonstrated for instance, when he humiliated Gen. Nelson A. Miles by a severe reprimand which hundreds of thousands of Americans resented as brutal; and by promoting Gen. Leonard Wood and Gen. John J. Pershing over the heads of many of their seniors, to the disgust of nearly all the officers in the army. He almost caused the elderly politicians and statesmen to have apoplexy when, in the spring of 1908, he stated bluntly: "If they do not nominate Taft, they will have to take me" and in order to escape a third term for him they nominated Taft. Now that he has gone, it is easy to say kind things about him and to laud his deeds. In the last half of his second term, when he was engaged in batting stand-pat Republicans over the head with his "big stick," certain House in which I think I treated him fairly: "Mr. Chairman, within the last few days we have been edified by a series of somewhat remarkable speeches, evi- dencing a high order of ability in our membership, on which I most heartily congratulate the country; for no man more rejoices in the honor and glory of this House than I do. These speeches have been devoted chiefly to a discussion of the President's message and of the Presi- dent himself.

"Views widely divergent as the poles have been freely expressed as to the merits and demerits of this extraor- dinary man, one of the most extraordinary in American history. In this case, as in most others, the line of safety, fairness, and justice is found in medlas res. In my county there was a lawyer who so frequently urged courts and juries to take *a reasonable view' that his saying passed into a proverb. That is exactly what should be done touching the President; but that is precisely what has not been done, as a rule. "He is such a belligerent personage that his slightest word is a challenge to mortal combat, and he cannot express an opinion on any question under heaven, even on a subject so prosaic and threadbare as the prospective state of the weather, without precipitating a row, his extreme admirers declaring that there never has been such a weather prophet on earth since Adam and Eve were driven with flaming swords from Paradise; and his ex- treme enemies vociferating that he knows no more about the weather than does the groundhog. "Upon this issue there would be joined a battle royal, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Colonel Roose- velt laughs to scorn the words of the great Cardinal:

"Love thyself last; cherish those hearts that hate thcc; "On the contrary, he acts on the theory of the bellicose 1 Irishman who said, 'When you see a head, hit it. He has whacked so many heads that divers reactionary lead- ers are in the political hospital for repairs. of them "Still others perambulate the earth with poul- tices and plasters adorning their craniums. "His whole public life has been one long succession of No man was ever spectacular fights. more viciously as- sailed by men of his own party, and none was ever, while lauded still in the flesh, so lavishly by some of the opposing party. "But the truth is that this extraordinary man has waxed stronger and stronger by waging battle. Even defeat has made him a larger and more commanding in his militant career was he figure. Never more savage- more ly abused or extravagantly praised than at the present juncture. "So, amid the swirl of things, the deluge of words, the shoutings of the captains, the beating of tom-toms, the groans of crippled and wounded Republicans, the furious yells of friend and foe, one who is the personal friend of Theodore Roosevelt, the man; who is the opponent of Theodore Roosevelt, the politician or the statesman, as the case may be; and who desires to take a 'rea- sonable view' of the sayings and doings of Theodore Roosevelt, the Chief Magistrate of a mighty people perhaps has little chance to be heard in this babel of voices. "But I will have my say, and here it is: Personally, I like him. He has treated me well and I have tried to treat him well. After the manner of strong men, he has pronounced virtues, and glaring faults of character. I have never abused him. I have never grown hysterical even unto the end. It seems to me that that is the way in which he would desire to be treated. He must enter- tain ineffable contempt for the invertebrate sycophants who grovel before him on all occasions, and who, no mat- ter what he says or what he does, throw high their sweaty caps in air, shouting, 'lol Triumphe! lo! Triumphe!' ( "It vs said that a king can have no friends/ and it seems that a President of the United States any Presi- dent is in the same unhappy situation. It is claimed that Colonel Roosevelt is better than his party this he could easily be without running any imminent risk of being translated, after the fashion of Elijah, in a chariot of fire by reason of his goodness. "But, whatever his virtues, whatever his faults, what- ever else he may be, he is not a Democrat; for Democracy means the least amount of government the people can get along with consistent with the fullest enjoyment of their rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap- piness, while Republicanism means the greatest amount of government that the people will stand, and he of all men is the apostle of the maximum quantity of government. "Occasionally, very much to the delight of Democrats and the utter confusion of Republicans, he appropriates or absorbs, borrows or seizes, a Democratic idea, and from his high coign of vantage advocates it with tremen- dous force; for he obeys to the letter at least one Script- * ural injunction, Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might'; and it is the heavy hand of Theo- dore Roosevelt or his 'big stick* which has driven so many Republicans pell-mell into the cave of Adullam, where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth and much profane swearing.

Sr f'r no lio liio ri/iwj-irnf-f=n I ((aitin^rn fif \/\ i*nc ar\ tor i.nv-i.1 ..!..* rtSL ui into i.iiuiit^^u ma uig au^ti., u the unstinted praise and gratitude of all lovers of our country. "Twice in this speech I have applied to him the word 'extraordinary/ which seems to me the adjective best fitting his character and his endowments. Whether he is a great man I do not know. You, Mr. Chairman, do not know. Nobody knows. There is an old saying, 'Count no man happy till he is dead.' It is a wise and sane rule to acclaim no man great until he is in his grave. We have not the perspective necessary to fix his status in history, and it is sheer folly to attempt it. "Lord Bacon, the most philosophic of mankind, with clear vision and deep pathos expressed the same idea in his last will and testament when he said: 'For my name and memory, I leave it to men's charitable speeches, and to foreign nations, and to the next age.' Mis proud con- fidence was not misplaced, for his fame has augmented from the day of his death down to the present hour. "Individually, I wish the President well in the White House till March 4, 1909, when I hope he will quit it forever. I congratulate him, from the bottom of my heart, on turning a deaf ear to those unwise or selfish friends who have endeavored to persuade him to violate the wholesome precedents of one hundred and eleven years; for no President will ever be elected to a third term until the Republic is on its last legs. After he leaves that historic mansion, the goal of so many ambitious hearts, the tomb of so many ardent hopes, I wish him happiness, prosperity, and length of clays. "We can all be honest even if we cannot be great, and if you Republican bigwigs were perfectly candid you would confess that you are not nearly so much enamoured of the President as you appear to be. You grow red in tacle to make the angels weep. When I see you trying to apotheosize him by mere lip service, it seems to me 'The lady doth protest too much/ "When a lad I had a classmate who pronounced the Latin word vulgus, which means *the common people,' 'voolgoose.' By reason of some peculiarity in his vocal apparatus it sounded like 'bullgoose.' So the boys fell into the habit, as a joke, of pronouncing it 'bullgoose.' It is the 'common people* among the Republicans, the vulgus of the Romans, the 'bullgoose' of the college boys, that constitute Theodore Roosevelt's shield and buckler among the Republicans. No man has a livelier comprehension of that fact than Republican Representa- tives. "I have heard that in the last campaign sundry Re- publican Representatives sought and obtained from the President certificates of good character to help them pull through. We all know that when the Republican man- agers came to the conclusion that the result was doubtful he wrote that famous letter to 'My dear Mr. Watson,, which was used as a blanket certificate of good character for all Republican Members of Congress, except the un- fortunate Mr. Wadsworth. But even his epistle to Mr. Watson could not prevent the Republican majority in the House from falling from one hundred and fourteen to fifty-five. When 'Uncle Joe' read the returns he must have been in the frame of mind of Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, when, surveying a hard-won field, he exclaimed: 'Another such victory and we are undone."' In commenting on my speech The Washington Post cas- ually remarked: "Champ Clark's speech must have been read at the White House with contending emotions." I am inclined to think that in that speech, while he was He sent so many messages to Congress, of a didactic and critical nature, that toward the last the House re- ceived the announcement by his messenger of "A mes- the President in with roars sage from writing" of laughter. in so Finally he sent one offensive in its reference to certain members that the House refused to receive it. When he was inaugurated March 4, 1905, I saw him do a characteristic thing. It was a fine day, clear, but a little too cool, with a stiff north wind blowing. Of course there was an immense crowd. Several hundred officials including Cabinet members, diplomats, both Houses of Congress, army and navy officers, and other more or less prominent people were sitting on backless benches, ris- tier from the street ing tier on to the great bronze doors of the east front of the Capitol. The stand from which the President spoke was jammed up against the street, and he was to face the benchers. Across the street, and separated from it by a cable rope, facing him, were perhaps twenty thousand people of all conditions in life, standing up. Shortly after Colonel Roosevelt began the cable rope broke from the weight of the multitude behind it or, what is far more probable, somebody cut it and here came the crowd like a wave of the sea, right up close to the President. He continued his speech to the benchers, most of whom had been hear- ing speeches all their lives and who consequently did not applaud much. He turned to hoi polloi and shouted one sentence, and they made the welkin ring by such yells that it must have made the man in the moon curious to know what was happening on this mundane sphere. After that episode he spoke mostly to the1 howling, enthusiastic multitude, and paid little attention to the chief among the moral uplifters of his day. Men who did not Hke or indorse his eternal uplift sermons de- nounced him as the chief of muckrakers. He was an apostle of conservation of our natural re- sources, and preached it constantly. I am fully per- suaded, however, that the two things on which his fame will rest in the coming time were settling the Russo- Japanese War, for which he was voted the Nobel Peace Prize of forty thousand dollars, and the building of the Panama Canal. lie did not originate that Canal project, but he seized it with resolute hand and forced it to a con- clusion. The idea of an Isthmian canal had been in the minds of men ever since Balboa had gazed with pleasure and amazement upon the Peaceful Ocean. Roosevelt was severely criticized for what was called his high-handed proceedings in creating the Panama Republic, and even his best friends must admit that his conduct in that matter was precipitate and contrary to the rules in such cases made and provided. But he achieved his desire 'the Canal which will remain as his monument till time shall be no more and it is one of the world's greatest benefactions. One of the most pleasing features of his character was a sense of gratitude, as the following incident will show. When the forty-thousand-dollar Nobel Peace Prize was given to him he turned it over to the government, to be disposed of in ways suggested by him. But when we entered the World War nothing had been done by Con- gress toward carrying out his views, so he asked that the fund be returned to him that he himself might distribute it in war chanties. Mr. Gallivan of Massachusetts, who had charge of the resolution, came to me and asked me to recognize him, he sent Gallivan and five myself hundred dollars each, to war charities in promote our districts a gracious and grateful acknowledgment of our aid and comfort. There are ten counties in and I my district, gave fifty dollars to the Red Cross in each county. CHAPTER XVIII

Hay and Roosevelt.

AFTER the close of the Spanish War, in a blaze of * glory, and after President McKinley had elected the next House of Representatives by his "swing around the circle," thereby insuring his absolute supremacy for two years more, and his unanimous renomination in 1900, he settled down to as much enjoyment as the head of a mighty nation is permitted to have. His powerful friend, Senator Hanna, was still chairman of the National Com- mittee, with one eye looking to the re-election of President McKinley and with the other looking to his own nomina- tion and election to the Presidency in 1904. Of course, to his own accession to the White House, the re-election of his protege was a sine qua non; and the Senator had sense enough to clearly realize that fact, and in his double capacity as Senator and chairman of the National Com- mittee he knew that he, with the backing of the adminis- tration, could put the snuffers on the presidential hopes of certain ambitious Senators; but he reckoned without his host, never dreaming that the young Colonel of the Rough Riders, elected Governor of Now York in 1898, would be in his way in 1904. As the war ended in triumph people soon forgot, that the firm of McKinley and Hanna were very much opposed to it. McKinley was posed by his enthusiastic admirers as a "Great War President," and he mononoh/ecl the trlorv thnreof. oxcent what Dewev. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, and Capt. Richmond Pearson Hobson managed to appropriate. It is barely possible that the reason why both McKin- were so ley and Hanna bitterly opposed to the nomination of Roosevelt for Vice-President in 190x3 was that they had some sort of presentiment that he had his optic fixed on the presidential nomination for himself in 1904, and that if he chose so to do, he would run, Hanna and the National Committee together with the administration to the contrary notwithstanding. Senator Thomas C. Plan, who was not fond of Colonel Roosevelt, and who regarded him as an enfant terrible, and did not want him to have anything to do with the control of patronage in New York, thereby poaching on his preserves, desired to get rid of him by "shelving him" in the Vice-Presidency; but he could not budge Hanna from his opposition until Senator Matthew Stanley Quay came to his rescue. Quay turned the trick by letting it leak out that unless Hanna would agree to Roosevelt's nomination he would insist on the convention reducing the representation from the Southern states in Republican national conventions, thereby pull- ing the foundations from under Manna's castles in Spain. Shortly the news of Quay's program was carried to Hanna, and immediately thereafter, under compulsion, he gave in his adhesion to the bootn for Roosevelt. The Machia- vclli from Pennsylvania won. He had made a Vice- President intentionally and a President "unbeknownst" to himself. As John May, Secretary of State under McKinley, sub- sequently became very much enamoured of Colonel Roose- velt, who ;is President retained him as his Premier, It will haply add to the gnic-ty of nations to insert the following somewhat caustic und scholarly letter, written by Hay n.i, ...... 11.. , i . r. . ._ i 1 1 in/I- .. T .- in little more than a year he would be serving in the Cabinet of President Theodore Roosevelt. "Teddy has been here; have you heard of it? It was more fun than a goat. He came down with a somber resolution thrown on his strenuous brow to let McKinley and Hanna know once for all that he would not be Vice- President, arvd found, to his stupefaction, that nobody in Washington except Platt had ever dreamed of such a thing. Pie did not even have a chance to launch his nolo episcopari at the major. That statesman said he did not want him on the ticket that he would be far more valuable in New York and Root said, with his frank and murderous smile, 'Of course not; you're not fit for it.' And so he went back quite eased in his mind, but considerably bruised in his amour propre." In precisely six days, before Henry White, who was in London, could have received the foregoing letter, but after Platt and Quay had pulled off their grand coup and had forced Roosevelt's nomination for Vice-President, a sud- den and marvelous "change came o'er the dream" of Mr, Secretary Hay, and he changed his tune to the extent of writing this affectionate epistle to Colonel Roosevelt, June 21, 1900:

My DEAR GOVERNOR, As it is all over but the shouting, I take a moment of this cool morning of the longest day in the year to offer you my cordial congratulations. The week has been a racking one to you. But I have no doubt the future will make amends. You have received the greatest compliment the country covild pay you, and although it was not precisely what you and your friends desire, 1 have no doubt it is all for the best. Nothing can keep you from doing good work wherever you arc nor from getting lots of fun out of it. We Washingtonians, of course, have our own little point of view. it* 1 lie HKJai- iujcttu*^- UV-HI.VAIWW iiiui V,LH,I. to, i uu i-dll L lose us" which was literally true in Hay's case, as he was continued by Roosevelt in the high position of Sec- retary of State. It is interesting, hut bootless, to phi- losophize as to what Roosevelt would have done to him had he seen that letter to Henry White before he became President. After President McKinley's death the two Houses of Congress concluded to memorialize him in joint session, and Secretary Hay was unanimously chosen by the com- mittee on arrangements, of which I was a member, to deliver the eulogy, which he did in a masterly way; but he injected into it a strong Republican stump speech. During its delivery I was sitting next to Representative William H. Moody, of Massachusetts, subsequently Sec- retary of the Navy, Attorney-General, and a justice of the Supreme Court as stanch a Republican as there was in the country. I was much surprised that Mr. Hay in- jected partizan politics into his eulogy, and so was Mr. Moody. When Hay began on steel rails, Mr. Moody turned to me and said, "That is rather raw!" Subsequently, when the committee met and proposed a resolution thanking Mr. Hay for his speech, I antago- nized it on the ground that by injecting partizan politics into his eulogy he bad grossly violated the proprieties of the occasion. Nevertheless, the committee reported the resolution to the House, and when it was considered I spoke as follows: "When Mr. Hay rose to deliver his address he had such an audience as only two other men in the entire history of the government ever had George Bancroft, when he eulogized Abraham Lincoln, and James G. Blaine, when he pronounced his enlogium upon James A. Garfield and all of us hope that a similar occasion will never again most magnificent audience that can be assembled on this continent the President and his Cabinet, the Supreme Court of the United States, the Diplomatic Corps, a prince of the German Empire and his suite, both Houses of Con- the officers of gress, the head of army, high the navy, every distinguished man in official and unofficial life be- twixt the two oceans that could be crowded into this his- toric ball, together with much of the beauty of the land. It was such an audience as any orator would be fortunate to address such an audience as no orator now living will most probably address. "In many respects I entertain a nigh opinion and a high regard for the Secretary of State. He is a most amiable and accomplished gentleman. From his youth up he has been associated with intellectual giants. For four years he was brought into daily contact with Abra- ham Lincoln, which in itself was a liberal education. Colonel Hay is himself a great historic personage. He has achieved eminence in two difficult fields of human endeavor in literature and in diplomacy. He has been ambassador to the Court of St. James's, and is now Secre- tary of State. In literature he has performed the unusual feat of winning fame in both poetry and prose, such fame as any man in the House or Senate or in the whole country might envy. His Life of Abraham Lincoln, or Abraham Lincoln,' A History, as it is entitled, is one of the standard historic works of the world; but in my judgment Mr. Hay's literary reputation will rest more on Ins Pike County ballads than upon anything else he has written. Of their class they are about as good as anything else in the Eng- lish language. As an earnest of what he might have done in poetry, they lead one to regret that their author deserted the muses for the stormy world of politics. tlninnpl H nv ic n cp^innpH hnncl nr lit-pp-.ifiirp. His moment, spur ol the consequently he cannot complain to the if he is held strictly highest standard of good taste. "Not only did he have a distinguished and brilliant audience, but be had an audience entirely sympathetic in its character. I undertake to say, without the fear of successful contradiction, that there was not a man or woman within these walls that day, not a man or woman in his greater audience the entire American people who would have objected to any word of eulogy he could have pronounced on William McKinley, however extrava- a gant, for McKinley was popular favorite popular with all citi/ens, all classes, and all parties, in a most extraor- dinary degree. "The objection I make to thanking the Secretary of State is not that he delivered a eulogy upon Mr. McKin- ley that was what he was invited to do, what he was expected to do, what \ve all, myself included, wanted him to do but because with that unequaled opportunity, with that magnificent audience, he departed from the language of eulogy and, disregarding the proprieties, in- jected into his memorial address a high-class Republican stump speech. "King Solomon says: 'There is a time for every pur- pose under heaven.* Of course there is a time for Re- publican speeches. I do not object to Republican speeches at the proper time. Strange ;\s it may seem, I rather enjoy hearing a good Republican stump speech, although I doubt exceedingly if any Republican in these later days can make a stump speech without committing blasphemy. If the gentleman from Ohio, General Gros- venor, for instance, will make a Republican speech, I will hear him gladly. If my distinguished friend from Indiana, Mr. Landis. will do it. I will be delighted to hear him. If witn pleasure, i nave nearu my menu xium rittSDurg, the Hon. John Dalzell, make Republican speeches on dry which economic subjects in this House came near being epic poems in their character. "But I will never be willing to thank any man any- where at any time or in any place for making a Republi- can speech. That is what we are asked to do in this resolution. I want to say this to the members of the House, because it ought to be said that as a literary performance Colonel Hay's address will take high rank. There are some phrases in that oration that are of ex- traordinary excellence and almost entitle him to the dubious honor of being placed in the same class with Grover Cleveland as a phrase-maker. "I have no objection to the literary character of it, but I am willing to submit it to as good a critic of political speeches as the gentleman from Ohio himself (General Grosvenor), or the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McCall), or as the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hitt), or any other man on that side of the chamber who has literary taste, and let him pronounce if Mr. Hay did not violate the proprieties of the occasion when he in- jected into that eulogy upon President McKinley a Republican stump speech. "He knew himself he was violating the proprieties, be- cause he states I cannot quote the language exactly; I have not time to hunt it up that he craves the indul- gence of those that are hearing him, if perchance he injects into the speech remarks that ought not to have been made. Then he proceeded to make a stump speech. For in- stance, he stated in one place that the very month in which Mr. McKinley was inaugurated steel rails sold for eighteen dollars a ton. 1 would like very much for some man to stare as a literary proposition whether, according dollars a ton in the month of eighteen March, 1897, had with the character of anything to do William McKinley or with the feeling of kindness and pride which the Amer- for ican people entertain him. "As a matter of fact, if steel rails sold for eighteen dol- lars a ton in the month of March, 1897, William McKinley had nothing to do with it, because he had not been in Congress since the fourth day of March, 1891. No Re- in office in a publican had been high executive place for four years in that month, and if steel rails sold for eighteen dollars a ton at that time, and as it was an unprecedented thing in the history of the country, then the credit ought to have been given where credit is due to the Democrats of this country instead of trying to filch it for the Repub- lican party. But, from the sentence that opens up with that declaration, until near the close of the address, it was as fine a Republican stump speech as has been deliv- ered on the American continent within the last two years. Again, he states that because Mr. McKinley was a patriot at the beginning of the Civil War, he was necessarily a Republican, thereby broadly intimating that nobody but a Republican can be a patriot, which is an insult to one- half the citizens of the Republic. "I will tell you what will happen, and I know it just as well as that I am living: If you pass this resolution, every Republican candidate for Congress in the United States will not only circulate this speech as the strongest possible Republican campaign document, but at the same time he will circulate the resolution of Congress thanking him for delivering it. "When I objected to the unanimous report of the com- mittee, my friend from New Jersey (Mr. Parker) rose and asked me to withdraw it, and I would not do it. I neia, as cruituuy anu us ^diciuuy a any opcci-ii wus ever read on the American continent, "The difference in situation was that Blaine delivered his speech under the most difficult circumstances that could possibly have surrounded a human being called upon to speak on such an occasion. Here sat the Repub- lican party, divided into two bitter and warring factions. He had to avoid saying too much in praise of Garneld, and he had to avoid insulting what was called the 'Stal- wart* faction of the Republican party. Yet any Amer- ican citizen could take Blaine's speech and read it from beginning to end without feeling that any impropriety had been committed. It is a magnificent oration. There is not a solitary syllable in it that would offend 'feather- 1 head Republicans, as they were then called, or a 'Stal- wart* Republican, or a Democrat of any of the number- less varieties of that party which there are in this country. Mr. Blaine observed the proprieties and spoke in perfect good taste. "When Mr. Hay arose to speak he had no difficulty to confront him. He had simply to observe the rules of good taste literary taste to observe the canons of lit- erary criticism. But he did not do it. So far as I am concerned, if there is not another man in this House who votes against thanking him for it, I propose to so vote. "I want to repeat that I am not hidebound on the subject of politics. I am a Democrat, and always expect to be one. Politics has absolutely nothing to do with my opposition to this resolution of thanks. I recognize that every man has the right to his political opinions and to express them on any occasion that is fitting in terms that seem to him right and proper. As a matter of fact, less than two months ago I sat in my place here and led the applause for my distinguished friend from the state same Kinuiy uunc ^i my uiatuiguisucu ineiia irom jviicni- William Aldcn when he gan (Mr. Smith) delivered his oration on the Cuban great reciprocity scheme. But I believe, Mr. Speaker and gentlemen, that the House simply sinks its own dignity when it votes to thank a man for delivering a political speech (I care not how classical Its phrases) when he ought to have observed all of the proprieties of the occasion which he not only failed to observe, but which he violated in the most flagrant manner." Of course the thing happened which I prophesied. The whole Republican press "Blanche, Tray, and Sweet- heart" barked viciously at me, aided by certain so-called Democratic papers, always with keen appetites for the crumbs from the White House and Cabinet tables; but I survived their assaults and found vindication for my position and my speech when, in 1908, Mr. William Ros- coe Thayer published The Life and Letters of John Hay, for on page 381, volume ii, he makes this candid and re- freshing statement: "For pure eulogy which makes no pretense at criticism, his oration on President McKinley might serve as a model affectionate, dignified, imputing only the best motives, and giving full credit to every good deed. The laudation of the Republican party, to which Hay attributed almost every beneficent act in fifty years, except possibly the introduction of antiseptic surgery, must have tickled Hay's sense of humor in the writing, as it surely fed the satisfaction of the thousands who heard it. Underneath the exuberance of encomium there is stilt an honest outline of the services of the party." I most cheerfully commend that paragraph by Mr. Ihaycr as a thorough vindication of my opposition to the resolution thanking Mr. Secretary of Stare Hay for CHAPTER XIX

The gold plank adopted by Republicans in 1896.

'"FHERE is an ancient saw familiar to the ears of men A that "History frequently repeats itself," and most certainly it is true. I have already related how, at the Democratic National Convention of 1892, the friends of the then ex-President Cleveland cooked up an elaborate "straddle" on the tariff question, which "straddle" had the support of Mr. Cleveland himself; and how Tom Johnson and Larry Neal both of Ohio, aided and abetted by other intense souls took the convention away from the committee on platform and inserted a bold and radical plank which disgusted Mr. Cleveland so utterly that he asserted that that plank was put in for the pur- pose of defeating him, but on which he was elected over- whelmingly. So to the National Republican Convention of 1896 Governor McKinley sent a draft of a platform, prepared by himself and a coterie of his close friends and advisers, the financial plank of which was an ingenious "straddle,'* designed to please the single Gold Standard Republicans and also to hold the Free Silver Republicans. It was a lovely scheme, if only it had been adopted by the con- vention, which it was not, and would have worked well but it did not work at all and was scornfully rejected. When the "straddle" on the tariff was presented to the Democratic Convention of 1892 it was not certain that ten uuu delegates, witn oniy uue-rnuu to spare, naa not the Missouri delegation voted under the unit rule, he would have been defeated, for in that delegation were fourteen men who were opposed to Mr. Cleveland. But when Governor McKinley sent his "financial straddle" to the St. Louis convention it seemed absolutely certain that he held the nomination in the hollow of his hand; for a very large majority of the delegates were instructed for him; but the out-and-out Gold Standard men, such as Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Senator Thomas C. Platt and Edward Lauterbach, raised such a rumpus that it was freely asserted that McKinley would lose the nomination unless he came down ofF his "straddle" and agreed to the out-and-out Gold Standard -which he did, because the strong talk of beating him for the nomination so startled and worried his manager, Marcus A. Hanna, that he noti- fied his protege to agree. It was a fine kettle offish. The consequence was that McKinley secured the nomination by a majority of 661^2 to 84^ for Thomas Brackctt lieed, his closest opponent, with a few scattering on the only ballot, and was compelled to make his race on a platform which made the Gold Standard the paramount issue, instead of making it on a platform of his own devising, which made the tariff the paramount issue 'though in his heart the tariff was his first love. All this is decidedly refreshing when McKinley's record on the vexed and vexing coinage question is taken into account. Herbert Croly, Manna's biographer, who seems to have worshiped Hanna as a sort of fetish, and who does not hesitate one moment to minimize anybody in order to magnify his hero not even sparing McKinley says in his book at page 193: "His [McKinlcy's] own record in relation to legislation affecting the standard of value had been vacillating." The word vacillating is had made some phrase "J*accuse" McKinley very strong speeches in favor of silver, severely arraigning the Demo- crats for being unfriendly to silver coinage. In addition he had, while in the House, voted for the Bland Silver it bill, and had also voted to pass over the veto of Ruther- ford B. Hayes, an Ohio Republican President which seems to me to have been "going the whole hog" as a silver man to use a phrase common in the West. As these transactions have grown dim in human memory, and as some over-enthusiastic worshiper of McKinley may, without exact information, rise up to deny that his record is properly set forth herein, it is apropos to state that his vote in favor of the Bland Silver bill is duly re- corded at page 241 of The Congressional Record, volume vi, of the Forty-fifth Congress, first session, on November in of 5, 1877; and his vote favor passing the Bland Silver bill over Hayes's veto is recorded at page 1418, volume vii, part 2, of The Congressional Record for the Forty-fifth Congress, on February a8th, in the year of our Lord and Master, 1878. Mr. Croly attempts to make it appear that Hanna was, all along, really and secretly in favor of declaring for the Gold Standard, that he outwardly deferred to McKinlcy's wishes by reason of his wider experience in politics, that he connived at, if he did not participate in, the efforts of the advocates of the Gold Standard men to force a bald declaration in its favor into the platform, and that he wanted them to force his hand which they very oblig- ingly did. And in this way, according to Croly, Hanna played it on McKinley all of which Croly appears to think was a credit to Hanna. Some people will not agree with Mr. Croly's valuation of that performance; but, as declaring for the Gold Standard was by far the most .,: IV/T_ be heard in full on that ley, should point. Here is what he his book: says in "Undoubtedly Mr. McKinley himself wanted to sub- ordinate the currency issue to that of protection. His own record in relation to legislation affecting the standard of value had been vacillating. He was a bimetallist, and had stood for the use of both gold and silver in the cur- of the United States without rency inquiring too closely whether the means actually used to force silver into cir- culation had or had not tended to lower the standard of value. His personal political prominence had been due to his earnest and insistent advocacy of the doctrine of high protection, and he feared that if the currency issue defined result were sharply the would necessarily be (as It was) a diminution in price of his own political and eco- nomic stock in trade. Considerations of party expe- diency reinforced his own personal predilections. His party was united on the issue of protection. It was divided on the currency issue. There were Silver Re- publicans, and they all came from a part of the country in which he was personally very popular. The sentiment in favor of a single Gold Standard was strongest in New England and the Middle States, which were more or less opposed to his nomination. If he had favored unequivo- cally a single Gold Standard, his candidacy would have been weakened among his friends, while his opponents would have merely shifted their ground of attack. Not unnaturally, he proposed to evade the issue, by standing for 'sound money/ without defining precisely what sound money really was. "Mark Hanna's personal attitude was different from that of Mr. McKinley. He was enough of a banker to realize that the business of the country was suffering far house, overlooking Lake Erie, between himself, Russell A. in Alger, Mr. Hanna, and Mr, McKinley, which both the of the political and economic aspects progressive campaign issues were thoroughly discussed. In these conventions Mr. McKinley was, in Mr. Merriam's own phrase, 'ob- sessed' with the idea of the tariff as the dominant issue of the coming campaign. Mr. Hanna, on the other hand, was, in Mr. Merriam's words, 'in favor of committing the Republican party to gold, as the sole basis of currency, and he was anxious and willing to lend his aid to the " furtherance of this policy.' Inasmuch as Mr. McKinley was the candidate, his views prevailed. Throughout the whole preliminary can- vass the currency issue was evaded. The state conven- tions, in which the candidate's personal influence pre- vailed, declared for sound money and the coinage of silver in so far as it could be kept on a parity with gold. Con- ventions such as that of Wyoming instructed their dele- gates for McKinley, while declaring at the same time for the free and unlimited coinage of silver. Mr. McKinley's ambiguous attitude on the currency was helping the can- vass in the Western states, and he probably desired as much as McKinley did that any more precise definition of the issue should at least be postponed until after Mr. McKinley's nomination was assured. In no event would he have insisted upon any opinion of his own in respect to an important matter of public policy in an- tagonism to that of his candidate and friend. McKinley's opinion remained unchanged until the very eve of the convention. Mr. Kohlsaat asserts that on Sunday, June yth, he spent hours trying to convince Mr. McKinley of the necessity of inserting the word "gold" in the platform. The latter argued in opposition that after the convention over the thirty days was currency would out of and the tariff question drop sight would become the sole issue. The currency plank, tentatively drawn by Mr. McKinley and his immediate advisers, embodied his resolution to keep the currency issue sub- ordinate and vague. According to Mr. Foraker, Mr. K. Richards came to him at Cincinnati some before J, days the date of the meeting of the convention, bringing with him direct from Canton some resolutions in regard to the money and the tariff questions prepared by the friends of Mr. McKinley with his approval. Mr. Foraker had been slated for the committee on resolutions, and the McKinley draft was placed in his hands with a view to having them incorporated in the platform. The currency plank, as handed to Mr. Foraker, began as follows : "The Republican party is unreservedly for sound money. It is unalterably opposed to every effort to de- base our currency or disturb our credit. It resumed specie payments in 1879, and since then it has made and kept every dollar as good as gold. This it will continue to do, maintaining all the money of the United States, whether gold, silver, or paper, at par with the best money of the world and up to the standard of the most enlight- ened governments. "The Republican party favors the use of silver along with gold to the fullest extent consistent with the main- tenance of the parity of the two metals. It would wel- come bimetallism based upon an international ratio, but until that can be secured it is the plain duty of the United States to maintain our present standard, and we are there- fore opposed, under existing conditions, to the free and unlimited coinage of silver at sixteen to one." oaiurua.y morning, tnu m nit mean nine a guuu ueai nad been happening there and elsewhere in respect to the currency plank. Mr. Hanna had already gone to St. Louis. When he arrived he had in his possession a draft of certain resolutions, presumably the same which had been taken to Mr. Foraker by Mr. J. K. Richards. He was joined in St. Louis early in the week by a number of Mr. McKinley's friends and supporters, and in the group a lively discussion almost immediately arose as to the precise wording which should be adopted in denning the currency policy of the Republican party. This group consisted in the beginning of Senator Redneld Proctor, of Vermont, Col. Myron T. Herrick, General Osborne, and Mr. Hanna himself. Mr. Hanna was so busy in rounding up his delegates and in attending to other details that he could not give much of his time to the conferences over the platform, but he was in and out and knew what was going on. Toward the middle of the week the group of gentlemen participating in these conferences was increased by sev- eral accessions from the number of Mr. McKinley's friends in other states, among whom may be mentioned Mr. Henry C. Payne, William R. Merriam, and Melville E. Stone. After his arrival, Mr. Henry C. Payne became particularly active in getting the conference together and in having copies supplied to each participant. On Wednes- day morning Mr. Hanna handed to Mr. Payne the draft of the currency plank as prepared by McKinley, with the request that it be revised by the conference and put into final shape. The discussion continued on Thurs- day. After an agreement had been reached on certain changes, Mr. Payne was asked to prepare another draft for discussion on the following day, which was Friday. On Friday morning Mr. H. H. Kohlsaat, of Chicago, Kohlsaat's relation to the whole matter was peculiar. He was a friend of long standing, both of Mr. McKinley and Mr. Hanna. He had, of course, been favorable to in the former's nomination, but the newspapers which he controlled he had combined an earnest advocacy of Mr. McKinley's selection with an even moree arnest and in- sistent advocacy of the single Gold Standard. He states that he had not been allowed by Mr. McKinley and by Mr. Hanna to assist in the contest for the delegation from Illinois, because they were embarrassed by his atti- tude on the currency question. With the addition of Mr. Kohlsaat the members of the conference consisted of Mr. Payne, Colonel Herrick, Senator Proctor, ex-Governor Merriam, and Mr. Stone. Mr. Hanna was present a certain part of the time, but he had so many other matters which required his attention that he was frequently being called of?. There is some conflict of testimony as to the proceedings of the conference on Frida}'. Colonel Herrick states that the final draft had been substantially submitted and ac- cepted on Friday morning. Mr. Kohlsaat, on the other hand, declares that in the draft forming the basis of dis- cussion at the beginning of the conference the word "gold" was omitted. This draft read as follows: "The Republican party is unreservedly for sound money. It caused the enactment of the law providing for the resumption of specie payments in 1879. Since then every dollar has been as good as gold. We arc un- alterably opposed to every measure calculated to debase our currency or impair the credit of our country. We are therefore opposed to the free and unlimited coinage of silver, except by agreement with the leading commer- cial nations of Europe, and until such agreement can be tained, and we favor all measures designed to maintain inviolably the money of the United States, whether coin the or paper, at the present standard, standard of the of the earth." most enlightened nations The foregoing draft was furnished by Colonel Herrick. It differs in one or two minor respects from the draft which, according to Mr. Kohlsaat, formed the basis for discussion at the conference of Friday. The minor dif- ferences are merely matters of order, and may be ignored. The essential difference turns upon the insertion of the word "gold" before "standard." According to Mr. Her- contained rick, the draft prepared by Mr. Payne the word the "gold." According to Mr. Kohlsaat, decision to in- sert that word was reached only after a protracted dis- cussion and a sharp controversy between himself and Mr. Hanna. Not until four o'clock in the afternoon, after Mr. Hanna had withdrawn, was an agreement obtained. In view of the unanimity of his friends Mr, Hanna gave his consent and agreed to urge its acceptance on Mr. McKinley. It was Colonel Herrick who telegraphed to the candidate and obtained his approval. According to the testimony of Colonel Herrick, Mr. Kohlsaat, Mr, Merriam, and Senator Proctor, the whole matter was settled, so far as Mr. McKinley and his friends were con- cerned, by Friday night. In the several accounts of these conferences, the one doubtful point is whether or not the word "gold" was contained in the draft prepared by Mr. Payne. The matter is not of great importance, except in respect to Mr. Kohlsaat's claim that he, more than any single individual, was responsible for its insertion, and that he was called a "d d fool" by Mr. Hanna for his The available account from Mr. Hanna pains. only' * ir r t MY DEAR MR. McCLUnr, Iain in receipt of yours of theaist inst

been reached in accumulation of i which has just my letters. I do not into alUhat I told in care to have go print you personally regard to of the St. Louis When I went to St. Louis the gold plank platform. me a memorandum on the tariff and financial I took with questions all the drawn by Mr. McKinley. During discussions there prior to Committee on Resolutions I the action of the showed it to a few it rewritten the Hon. K. friends and had by J. Richards, the present It U. S. Solicitor-General. was but slightly changed by those who considered It before it went to the Committee and as presented was the Committee with little or no of the passed by change. My part business was to harmonize all sections and prevent any discussion of the subject outside the Committee which would line up any factions the ultra-silver In that I against it (except men). succeeded, and felt all the credit claimed those willing to give by who assisted. The is in the of a original memorandum possession personal friend, whom consent. 1 do not care to name without his The whole thing was managed in order to succeed in getting what we got, and that was my only interest. Sincerely yours, M. A. HANNA.

The foregoing letter, while it throws no light upon the time and occasion of the insertion of the decisive word into the draft, supplies the due which enables us to in- terpret Mr. Hanna's own behavior, both during these conferences and thereafter. He himself was in favor of the Gold Standard, and in favor of a declaration to that effect. But partly because of his loyalty to Mr. McKin- ley and partly because he did not want any decisive step taken until the sentiment of the delegates had been dis- closed, he preferred to have his hand forced, and he did not want to have it forced too soon. Although a decision, so far as Mr. McKinley and his friends were concerned, had been reached on Friday, public announcement of the fact was scrupulously avoided, and Mr. Hanna evidently pucitly asking tne convention to adopt tne uold Standard. Mr. McKinley's personal popularity would suffer much less in case every superficial fact pointed to the conclusion that the Gold Standard was being forced on him by an irresistible party sentiment. As a matter of fact, such was the case. As the dele- gates gathered in St. Louis, the friends of the Gold Standard learned for the first time their own strength. Business men east of the Mississippi had been reaching the conclusion that the country could never emerge from the existing depression until a Gold Standard of value was assured. They and their representatives learned at St. Louis that this opinion had become almost unanimous among responsible and well-informed men. Mr. Hanna received numberless telegrams from business men of all degrees of importance, insisting upon such action. The substantial unanimity of this sentiment among Republi- can leaders, particularly in the Middle West, clinched the matter. Mr. McKinley would not have consented to any decisive utterance had he not been convinced that the great majority of his friends and his party were un- alterably in favor of it. Every one of the participants in the preliminary conferences considered it desirable, and their united recommendation constituted a constraining force which Mr. McKinley could not ignore. Such being the case, any controversy as to the precise time and occa- sion of the insertion of the word "gold" into the actual draft becomes of small importance. It would have been inserted, anyway, not by any one man, or by the repre- sentatives of any one section, but because the influential members of the party, except in the Far West, had be- come united on the subject. Credit, however, particu- larly attaches to those Middle-Western politicians and business men who lind t-Vin inrpHtirpiirp t-n nnrlpixi-jirul nnd eistnum issue relation to cms UHU passed, ana wno per- that he suaded Mr. McKinley must stand on a gold plat- form even at some sacrifice of personal prestige and per- risk of haps at some personal success. If Mr. McKinley had failed to consent to the insertion of the word "gold," and had prevailed upon all his inti- mate friends to assume the same attitude, he might pos- his sibly have prevented own nomination. At all events, as 's as soon Mr. McKinley opponents arrived, the}'' immediately began an attack on what was manifestly the weak point in the McKinley fortifications. They knew that his nomination was assured, unless, perchance, he could be placed in opposition to the will of the conven- tion upon some important matter, and of course they represented a part of the country in which public opinion in general was more united in favor of the Gold Standard than it was in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. Senators Lodge and Platt reached St. Louis on Sunday. They learned of the controversy over the currency plank, but not about the decision actually reached. Senator Lodge went immediately to the McKinley headquarters. In his ensuing interview with Mr. Hanna the latter gave him no encov\n\gement about the insertion into the plank of the word "gold." Mr. Lodge and ex-Governor Draper were shown the drafts of two resolutions, one of which was understood to have just arrived from Canton, and neither of which committed the party to the Gold Stand- ard. Senator Lodge then told Mr. Hanna that these drafts were unsatisfactory, and that Massachusetts would demand a vote upon any similar plank. After some further talk Mr. Lodge went away, but he served notice on Mr. Hanna that efforts would be made to consolidate the sentiment in the convention opposed to any "straddle." By Monday uitrht the advocates of the Gold Standard is CUIILIUKIVU mm. un wanted, me evidence rnaay night both he and Mr. McKinley were prepared to accept a decisive Gold plank (which he personally had always ap- proved) but, as he says in his letter to Mr. McClure, his part of the business was "to prevent any discussion of the subject outside of the committee on resolutions line factions it." which would up any against That is, he proposed to leave the action of the convention on the plank uncertain until the committee on resolutions could launch a draft which would have the great majority of the convention behind it, and which would constrain the doubters and the trimmers. By failing to tell Senator Lodge that a draft containing the word "gold" had already been accepted by McKinley, he astutely accom- plished his part of the business. He arranged for the consolidation of the sentiment in favor of the Gold Stand- ard, while he prevented any consolidation of the sentiment against it, except on the part of the irreconcilables. If he had announced as early as Saturday or Sunday that a declaration in favor of the Gold Standard would be sup- ported by Mr. McKinley's friends and probably adopted by the convention, a considerable number of half-hearted and double-minded delegates might have been won over by the lenders of the Silver faction. And it might have seemed like a desertion by McKinley of the pro- Silver delegates, who had been prevented by the ambi- guity of the candidate's previous attitude from opposing him. The text of the plank, as it came from the committee and appeared in the platform, read as follows: "The Republican party is unreservedly for sound money. It caused the enactment of a law providing for the resumption of specie payments in 1879. Since then every dollar has been as trood as old. We are unaltcr- AMERICAN POLITICS 4 s 7 the currency or impair credit of our country. We are to the free therefore opposed coinage of silver, except by international agreement with the leading commercial nations of the earth, which agreement we pledge our- selves to promote; and until such agreement can he obtained the existing Gold Standard must be maintained. All of our silver and paper currency must be maintained at parity with gold, and we favor all measures designed to maintain inviolably the obligations of the United States, and all our money, whether coin or paper, at the present standard, the standard of the most enlightened nations of the earth." Here ends Mr. Croly. After the Gold Standard plank was inserted in the platform there were more men who claimed credit for that momentous achievement than there were cities vaunting themselves as being the birthplace of Homer. The two who boasted loudest were Senator Thomas Col- lier Platt, of New York, and Senator Joseph Benson Koraker, of Ohio whom by a strange lapsus pennee Mr. Croly always refers to as Mr. or Senator James B. Foraker.

Mr. H. H. Kohlsaat and his friends tried to make it appear that he did it, for doing which he received at least two savage drubbings, one at the hands of Myron T. Herrick, subsequently Governor of Ohio and ambassador to France, the other from Senator Foraker. Croly sneers at the pretensions of both Platt and Foraker as to the but authorship; as both those Senators wrote autobiog- raphies, it is best to let them speak for themselves. Platt says in part; "Tf 1AJ-.C- 111 T A. Hanna, who had assumed the management of the was to campaign whose ultimate object name and elect President McKinley successor to Cleveland, sent agents through the country two years in advance of the national convention, pledging his choice to gold in Gold states, and silver in Silver states. In Wyoming, for instance, the to delegates to St. Louis were instructed support McKin- to secure ley and use all honorable means the adoption of a platform declaring for Free Silver. "My opposition to Governor McKinley proceeds almost his nomination entirely from my belief that would bring into and the Republican party turmoil trouble. He is not a well-balanced man of affairs. Governor McKinley is not a great man, as Mr. Reed (Thomas B.) is. He is not a" trained and educated public man, as Senator Allison is. He is not an astute political leader, as Senator Quay is. He is simply a clever gentleman, much too amiable and much too impressionable to be safely intrusted with great executive office, whose desire for honor happens to have the accidental advantage of the association of his name with the last Republican protective tariff. "There are two qualities resolution and courage- which the people always require in their Chief Magistrate. McK-inley represents the most radical and extreme view of protection, I foresee the greatest dangers to the Re- publican party as the result of extreme tariff legislation. "Fully as important as the tariff bill yes, more so is the measure that must be devised to render our cur-

rency system intelligible, safe, and clastic. If Major McKinley has any real convictions on the subject of the currency, they are not revealed in his votts or his speeches. "He voted once for free and unlimited coinage of silver. ' 1-1 ,*,! 4. .. ! *!, .... f with these votes. He has described himself as a bimet- in of the free allist; as favor coinage of both metals. His Ohio platform proposes another experiment in silver as coinage, such the Bland-Allison Act or the Sherman between law, with the parity the metals enforced by legislation. "This should remove McKinley from the list of presi- dential possibilities. The people of this country have had enough of the attempts to force fifty cents' worth of silver into circulation as a dollar. They have suffered incalculable losses as a result of twenty years of such politics. "I doubt if I can better relate the accurate history of the struggle over the Gold plank at St. Louis than by quoting from memoranda prepared by Charles W. Hackett, chairman of the New York Republican State Committee, 1896. He was in the thick of the combat, and was invaluable to us in securing the victory we achieved. Hackett drew up the notes before his death, as an answer to statements of certain Republicans hostile to our regular organization, who sought to deprive the New York and New England delegations of the credit of placing the party and its candidates squarely on the Gold Standard platform. "Hackett wrote: "'So far as the credit for what was done is concerned, the friends of Mr. Platt and Senator Lodge arc more than satisfied with the newspaper reports that were printed at the time. They told who did it. They showed the essen- tial fact that Mr. Harma and those who were working with him came to St. Louis with a "straddle."'" The controversy as to the identity of the author of the Gold plank waxed bitter and personal. Attempt was 1 here copy its most suuem ieui.iuea; "In The Metropolitan for September is an article written by William Eugene Lewis, in which, speaking of Mr. H. H. Kohlsaat, it is stated that: "'Mr. Kohlsaat drafted the gold plank of the Republi- can platform' (of 1896). . . . 'Mr. Kohlsaat perceived that the fight would be on finance, and nothing could be gained by evasion. He presented the resolution to the committee and insisted upon its incorporation in the platform. He placed strong political friendships in peril, for men as close and even closer to the candidate than he if any more intimate relations could exist than those between the editor and the candidate were emphatically of the opinion that it was the part of unwisdom to declare for gold coinage. They were overcome, and the rest is known. The editor had guessed right/ "I have seen substantially this same statement several times repeated, and have never seen any denial of it. Mr. Lewis has no doubt repeated it in perfect good faith, believing, and in the absence of denial he had a right to believe, it to be strictly true. Nevertheless, it is untrue. Mr. Kohlsaat necessarily knows this, and, being the editor facilities for of a newspaper, has good contradicting it, but so far as I am aware, he has not done so. "If the subject is worth discussing at all, in the interest of true history, and for fear Mr. Kohlsaat may be misled by apparent acquiescence into the belief that nobody knows any better, and that, after all, he probably did something of the kind narrated, the truth should be made known by somebody. "I had opportunity to know what occurred and all that occurred before or in connection with the committee on resolutions of the Republican National Convention of 1806, for I was not only a member of the committee, but and at all the of both the present presided meetings committee and sub-committee when the platform or any of it was under and part consideration, necessarily knew everything that transpired. Besides, I have a complete, record of all stenographically kept that occurred, showing to all communications the committee and the sub-com- mittee, and showing the appearance of all persons who came before these committees or either of them, and what they appeared for. There is no mention of Mr. Kohlsaat in the record, and every member of the committee who has any recollection on the subject knows that he never appeared before the committee or the sub-committee in any connection or for any purpose whatever. More than that, so far as I can now recall, his name was never men- tioned by any member of either committee in connection with the platform or any proposition in it. There were a great many 'financial planks' and resolutions on the 'money question* sent to the committee and brought to the committee, and in one way or another presented to the committee for consideration, but not one was iden- tified in any way whatever with Mr. Kohlsaat or his name. I have still in my possession every such resolution, all properly labeled, but none of them bears his name or any indorsement that has reference to him. This should be enough to dispose of that part of the statement which credits Mr. Kohlsaat with 'presenting the resolution that was adopted to the committee, and insisting upon its adoption/ "That Mr, Kohlsaat favored some such plank as was adopted I do not doubt, but if so he was but in har- mony with 90 per cent, of the leading Republicans of the country outside of the so-called Free Silver states; and that he may have at some time, or in some manner, or in that platform was very commonly indulged shortly before, and about the time of the convention by Republi- cans all over the country. Such resolutions were then state being adopted by the different conventions; they were being discussed by the newspapers and the people generally. Not only those who took an active part in politics, but business and professional men who had no thought of attending any convention were giving expres- sion to their ideas and striving to acceptably formulate them. The great number of these resolutions that were sent to the committee, and which I still have in my pos- session, show all this. They show more than this. They show that outside of the Silver states, among the leading Republicans of the country, there was an overwhelming sentiment in favor of an unequivocal declaration in favor of maintaining the existing Gold Standard and opposing the free and unlimited coinage of silver. Almost every resolution on the subject that came to the committee was, in effect, of this character, though many of them were objectionable because of their prolixity or phrase- ology. "So that if Mr. Kohlsaat had prepared such a resolution and presented it to the committee, he would have been only acting in harmony with the leading men of his party all over the country. It is probable, however, that he did find some people 'close to the candidate' who were disposed to be more conservative with respect to such a declaration than the Republicans of the country generally were, and it is possible that his controversy with them was such as to strain relations and 'imperil political friendships.' If so, Mr. Kohlsaat should be allowed full credit for what he may have done in this regard, but to enable us to judge rightly he ought to tell us all about it. K. Richards, now Solicitor-General of the United J. States, then ex-Attorney-General of Ohio, and an inti- mate, personal and political friend of President McKin- me at ley, called upon Cincinnati, coming directly from Canton, where he had been given some resolutions in the and tariff regard to money questions, which had been the friends of President prepared by McKinley with his which it was desired I approval, and should take charge of in view of my probable membership of the committee on resolutions, with a view to having them incorporated in the platform. "When a few days later I went to St. Louis I traveled with the Hon. Charles Emory Smith, now Postmaster- General, and Mr. Murat Halstead. I showed them the resolutions on the train, and we were all of the opinion that, while they contained much that was good, they should be more concise, more explicit, and not seek to make the tariff question paramount, and that if adopted they should first be corrected accordingly. Mr. Smith had made a rough draft of the material parts of a plat- form, including a money plank. He read it to Mr. Hal- stead and myself, and after going over it we were of the opinion that, reserving the financial part for further con- sideration, with very few unimportant changes, it would be well to adopt what he had written. His money plank read as follows: " 'Public and private credit, business safety and con- fidence, the worth of wages, and the honor and security of all commercial intercourse, depend upon a standard of value and a sound and stable currency. A debasement of the standard and consequent depreciation of the currency destroys faith, robs labor, drives away capital, increases the rates of interest, burdens the borrower, paralyzes t- wi. **-*. u v.ut.uiii.ui.L.o u anu cijui vrticni. *.v v\,i-j> unlit, lished currency. We favor the use of silver to the extent at which its parity with gold can be maintained; but we are opposed to the free, unlimited, and independent coin- in age of silver, and to any change the existing gold standard except by international agreement.' "But however that may be, it must be manifest that either Mr. Kohlsaat wrote the Richards-Hanna resolutions, which were adopted only in part, and that part not very important, and which did not explicitly enough declare Gold for a maintenance of the existing Standard to satisfy the committee, or else he must have written, in the name of somebody else, that part of the plank that was adopted which was not taken from the Richards-Hanna resolu- tions. Every member of the sub-committee knows he did not do, and could not have done, anything of the kind, for that part of the plank was framed, to the personal knowledge of each member of the sub-committee itself, from what had been submitted to it by others, and from what all its members knew was required to meet public sentiment, and was only what all, except Senator Teller, were anxious to say and would have said had they acted solely upon their own judgment without the help of out- side advice or suggestion. "It is to be hoped that the claims of Mr. Kohlsaat to greatness, and the gratitude of his countrymen, rest upon something more substantial than the story that he was the author of the Gold plank of the Republican platform of 1896; and it is especially to be hoped that his acquies- cence, not to say complicity, in the claim that has been made for him in this regard is not to be taken as a measure of the virtues of that truly remarkable man. "This article on the Gold plank prompted a great many people to write me words of congratulation on account of with a that were so way bakery, unkind, impolite, and as to be without harsh unprintable the risk of giving him offense, but ^received some of mild character in that to which he would respect, probably take no exception, one of which is the following:

LAS CRUCES, N. M., 12-6-9. "DEAR GOVERNOR, I am glad slit the of you gullet that d d pastry cook. His gall is insufferable. Yours, JOHN T n r1 , , SENATOR J. 13. I QUAKER, Washington.

END OF VOL. I

MY QUARTER CENTURY OF AMERICAN POLITICS V

OF AMERICAN POLITICS

BY CHAMP CLARK

TWO VOLUMES ILLUSTRATED

VOLUME II

- *-i n .-, T* 1 1 1-1 ii rTTr*t T <-< 1 ( T? TJ VOL. J MY QUARTER CrNn.-nv OF AMERICAN POLITICK

Copyright njjo. by Hnrper & Uroihcrs Pilntei) in the UnliPi] ^uics oi Amcticn CONTENTS

PAGE

CHAPTER I. Taft. Dingley. Mark Twain, etc...... i Mitt's dinner. CHAPTER II. Colonel John Sherman. DcArmunct. . . 26

CHAPTER IJI. Wars made 1'residcnts...... 32 CHAPTER IV. Sixteen generals. Wheeler and Sickles...... 37

CHAPTER V. The Sickles trial ...... 48

CHAPTER VI. How reputations arc made In Congress...... 54 CHAPTER VII. Half-forgotten statesmen ...... 82

CHAPTER VIII. "Lame Ducks." ...... 95 CHAITKR IX. Congressional funerals. Senator Hoar...... 108

CHAPTER X, Why lawyers preponderate in public place...... 125

CHAPTER XI. The St. Louis Democratic National Convention of 1904. . 137

CHAPTER XII. Congressional scholarship ...... 153

CHAPTER X11I. Denatured alcohol and Ebcnezcr J. Hill ...... 159

CHAPTER XIV. Line of departmental life ...... 167 CHAPTER XV. Physique as a factor in public life ...... 177 CHAPTER XVI. Wit and humor in Congress...... 185 CHAPTKR XVII. Cloak-room stories...... 202

CHAPTER XVIII. HurcilUy in American politics ...... 226 CHAPTER XIX. Hepburn, Shields, and Matthew Lyn ...... 234

CHAPTER XX. Personal ciu'mimcis in Scnari- and House. List of duels of national note. Ollic James, peaccmnU-r. Jerry South* barrier. Foote and Fremom, bantams. Ucmon's raging defiance of death ...... 247 CHAPTER XXI. The rules revolution. Parliamentary epochs; Reed's day and Clark's dnv ...... 257 Speaker of the House. Resolutions, -pro forma, thanking presiding officer. Several hitter enmities resulting from rulings of Speakers, The leaders of the majority. The leaders of the minority. Their masterful positions. Useful workers called "whips." Deserved trib- " utes to FiuRerald, Kitcliin, Mann, and Uncle Joe." Kindly men- " tion of others, giving honor to whom honor is due." -M,

CHAPTER XXV. Who was the first orator? Silence of the ages. Demos- thenes and Cicero. Dean and the broomstick. Difference between orator and de han't. High-water mark debate of Lincoln and Douglas. King Solomon's prophecy of Lincoln's Gettysburg inspiration. "Ora- tory is a divine gift." u(j

CHAPTKR XXVI. Ruth's rcap-liook, McCormick's reaper. Senator Mc- Cormick's opportunity. Submerged news concerning Jefferson. Past and present political methods. Changed methods of voting- Joint debates described. Stump speeches have power. Roster of famous and too." stumpers. "Tippccanoe Tyler, 353 of Uncle CHAPTKR XXVli. "The Apotheosis Joe." 358

CHAPTER XXVIII. Baltimore 392

INDEX 445 ILLUSTRATIONS

SPEAKER CLARK IN THE ROSTRUM COL. BENNETT C. CLARK, TIIK YOUNGEST COLONEL IN THH AMERICAN ARMY IN FRANCE Pacing P . 38 MRS. GENEVIKVF, CLAUK THOMSON, DAUGHTER OK CHAMP IIKR " CLARK, AND SON CHAMP CLARK THOMSON . 116 COL. JAMES M. THOMSON, I'.DITOR AND PUBLISHER OF "TiiK Nnw ORLEANS ITEM," SON-IN-LAW OF CHAMP *' CLARK 180 " OF SPEAKER THOMAS . CARTOON BRACKF.TT RUED . 258 HON. JOSEPH GURNEY CANNON, EX-SPEAKER OF TIIK " HOUSE 358

MY QUARTER CENTURY OF AMERICAN POLITICS

CHAPTER I

Taft Dingley -Mark Twain, etc.

of the finest gentlemen that ever occupied the ONEWhite House was William Howard Taft. He was not born exactly with the traditional silver spoon in his mouth, but he had an especially good start in life. He is the son of the late Alfonso Taft, who was a jurist of high degree and a member of General Grant's Cabinet. President Taft was thoroughly educated at Yale, in which institution he is now law professor. The first big office he ever held was that of judge of the Superior Court at Cincinnati; appointed to that place marvelous to tell! by Joseph Benson Foraker, then Governor of Ohio. Politics makes strange bedfellows and strange antagonists. Subsequently he filled the great offices of Solicitor-General of the United States, Federal Circuit judge, Governor-Gen- eral of the Philippines, and Secretary of War. His worst enemy will not claim that he did not exhibit great ability in these various positions, and lie came into the presiden- tial office accompanied, in my judgment, with more uni- versal i>onrl-wtll than ;inv ntlipr mnn flint- rvnr r ot he carried only the two states Utah and Vermont. I am going to give my own opinion on how this happened, He is the largest man that ever occupied the White House a handsome man >a learned man >a very gentle man. The first time I ever saw him was while he was Governor-General of the Philippines. He came over here to have a slight surgical operation performed. At that time the Committee on Foreign Affairs was arranging the present Chinese Exclusion law, which is more my law than anybody else's law. Hon. Hugh A. Dinsmore, of Arkansas, was really top Democrat, but he was down in Arkansas fighting for renomination to Congress. It was a bitter fight touching Chinese exclusion. By reason of having annexed the Philippines, the question of exclusion forked, one fork having reference to excluding Chinese from the American continent, Hawaii, and Porto Rico, the other as to excluding them from the Philippines. We sent for Governor-General Taft. He came into the com- mittee-room, and made a most favorable impression on every one in that room. His statements and his answers were as clear as a crystal. He was in favor of excluding them from the Philippines, and gave as his chief reason that neither an American nor a Filipino could compete with a Chinese in an}' species of business. That night, at a White House reception, I met him in the lower corridor and introduced him to my wife. When he walked oft* out of ear-shot I told her that that man would be the next Republican nominee for President to me he seemed to be their very best reliance. In his book Senator Fo raker undertakes to give the reasons why President Taft lost out in 1912. Of course, Forakcr is a very unfriendly witness, while I am a very friendly one. I like President Taft; he treated me and mine with n-reatest consideration and kindness, which I reasons which The first three Senator Foraker assigned Taft's are: First, President incorrigible habit of playing to the the golf, which, according Senator, disgruntled coun- cannot be for try people. That true, President Wilson more than did President Taft. plays golf Second, his fondness for traveling, over the country and making speeches on all sorts of questions. He did not speak or travel as much as has President Wilson. Third, that he appointed two Democrats to his Cabinet MacVcagh, Secretary of the Treasury, and Dickinson, Secretary of War. Both from the same voting precinct in Chicago. It is generally known that Dickinson retains his citizenship in Tennessee, being the owner of the famous Belle Meade plantation near Nashville, but as a matter of fact, for ten or fifteen years he had been a citizen of Chicago. While it seems to me that for a President to appoint men to his Cabinet of different politics from his own is an unwise performance, it had been generally conceded that Secretaries MacVcagh and Dickinson were not Democrats enough to hurt. They were very fine men, but both of them left the Democrats in 1896. Undoubtedly the fact that President Taft played golf a good deal and traveled a good deal both of which facts were greatly exploited in the newspapers diminished somewhat his popularity, which was very great in the beginning, and which is very great now. Nevertheless and notwithstanding, I do not believe that golf and trav- eling and the appointment of two Democrats to his Cabinet would have made a dent in bis prospects for re-election. In my judgment, the things that led to his presidential undoing are as fo.llows: First, he was a tariff reformer. So far as I know, the first speech he ever made in favor of remodeling and re- sentiment in me ixepuuin-an paiyy m

mean time, and before President Taft was inaugurated, I, as Democratic minority leader, negotiated a modus vivendi with the insurgent Republicans in the House during the short vacation between Taft's inauguration and the be- ginning of the extra session which he called. I made great headway with these negotiations. The same at- tracted the attention of the whole country. To the amazement of the insurgent Republicans, President Taft helped Uncle Joe, and seven members of his Cabinet who had arrived also helped, Secretaries MacVeigli and Dick- inson not having reached the city. That performance astounded and angered the insurgent Republicans as well as the so-called "uplift magazines" and newspapers. The upshot of the labors of the President and seven mem- bers of his Cabinet was that, when we had a battle royal on the 1 5th of March, 1909, the day when the new House organized, we got a bloody licking. The insurgents never forgave him, and became more aggressive and grew in numbers. Third, I have already stated that I believe President revise the tariff. It didn't say whether it was to be re- vised up or down, but from President Taft's speeches it was universally construed that he wanted it revised down. The St. Louis Globe-Democrat, the greatest Republican west of the paper published Mississippi River, said during the campaign that the Democrats were howling about reducing the tariff, but, as the Republicans wanted it reduced, the tariff was no longer an issue in the campaign. That is the strongest and clearest statement that any Republican paper made on the subject. The trouble with President Taft was, so far as the tariff went, that he had only what Governor Dingley called "surface information" on the subject, which the Governor explained to be such information as every well-informed man had, but not in- formation as to details. President Taft in his good nature permitted the stand-pat chiefs to make him believe that his time to interfere to get the reduction was not while the bill was in the House, or while the bill was pend- ing in the Senate, but that his opportunity would arrive when the bill got into conference. Being posted neither as to the details of the tariff nor as to the rules of the House, he took it for granted that they were giving him the correct tip. They did not tell him, however, that there was a practice in the House, as old as the govern- ment itself 'so old that it amounted to having the effect of law -that where the House proposed one rate on an item in the tariff bill and the Senate proposed another, the conferees could not go below the lower rate and could not go above the higher rate. In betwixt the House rate and Senate rate they could do as they pleased. This stand-pat advice to him with which Colonel Roosevelt had nothing to do constitutes the bad treatment of which I spoke. Consequently, when the bill got into con- He wanted it fixed at 10 per cent, and I have been in- formed, although I don't know positively, that he swore that he would never sign that bill unless they fixed it at 10. Incidentally, it may be stated that while he was a great man to smile, he had a temper of his own. He made it so hot for the stand-patters that they presented a joint resolution to authorize the conferees to put the rate at 10 per cent. That bred very incurable irritation among the factions. When the President signed the Payne-AIdrich bill there was no reason why he should issue a statement. If he had vetoed it, it would have been the proper thing to issue a statement; nevertheless, he elected to make fl statement, and the substance was that the Payne-AIdrich bill was only a partial redemption of Republican pledges; that some of the schedules were too high, notably schedule "K," the wool schedule. As a matter of fact, the Payne-AIdrich bill didn't reduce the tariff at all on the average. On the contrary, it raised it 1.70 per cent. In the House in my capacity as minority leader, I led the fight against the Payne-AIdrich bill, and I know what I am talking about. Shortly after the Payne-AIdrich bill was signed President Taft was per- suaded to go up into Massachusetts and make a speech from the porch of Augustus Peabody Gardner, in which he delivered a gorgeous eulogy on Senator Nelson W. Aklrich, chief of the stand-patters a very handsome and a very able man. In commenting on that I said and said truly that all the perfumes of Araby the Blest could not sweeten the actions of Senator Aldrich so as to please the dainty nostrils of the people. From Mr. Gardner's porch President Taft traveled west to Winona, Minnesota, and made a speech to promote the political fortunes of Hon. James A. Tawncy, one of the the utter amazement of the people, he declared that the bill was the best tariff Paync-AIdrich bill ever put on the statute-books. They couldn't reconcile that statement with the declaration he made when he signed the Payne- said Aldrich Tariff bill, and that it was only a partial redemption of Republican pledges, and that some of the schedules were too high, especially the wool schedule. Fourth, largely on account of the Payne-AIdrich Tariff of bill and on account the repulsion of the insurgent Re- the Democrats elected the publicans, House of Repre- sentatives in 1910 by sixty-five majority, of which House I was elected Speaker on the 4th of April, 1911. At the extra session in 1911 the House passed the Rec- iprocity bill with Canada. At the short session of the previous Congress the House passed the bill to establish reciprocity with Canada, and the Senate let it fail. It began to be whispered about that President Taft was going to call an extra session of Congress for his Reci- procity bill, which he did. One morning I was down to the White House February, 1911 and he asked me if he called an extra session what we were going to do. He and everybody else knew that I was going to be elected Speaker. I told him we would pass the Reciprocity bill and would also pass any other bills that we thought proper, including tariff bills. Two or three days after that he had a conversation with Mr. Underwood, who everybody knew would be chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. He asked Underwood the same ques- tion that he had asked me, and Underwood gave him practically the same answer that I had given. About two weeks before that Congress adjourned sine die, the President sent for both Underwood and me to come down to the White House at ten-thirty one night. The we agreed that we would in some way direct the conver- sation so as to restate to the President what we would do if he did call it. Secretary Knox was present at the conference. The President never asked our advice about calling an extra session. What he did ask our suggestions about was at what date Congress should meet. We expressed our opinions about that, and he followed our suggestion. In my judgment he would have been re- elected but for that extra session in 1911. It is generally assumed that Colonel Roosevelt, "soli- tary and alone," to use Col. Thomas Hart Benton's famous pleonastic expression, accomplished the Republican split at Chicago which defeated President Taft for re- election. Nothing of the sort. If President Taft had not aided and abetted Mr. Speaker Cannon in the rules fight, thereby .alienating the insurgent Republicans, to- gether with the uplift magazines and newspapers, and had not been led into the tariff trap by the stand-pat bigwigs, thereby parting company with avast multitude of tariff- reform Republicans, Colonel Roosevelt, powerful and popular as he was, could not have made such headway as he did. When he returned from Africa he found ready to his hand a great army of Republicans, disaffected toward President Taft, who rallied to him (Roosevelt) as the best chance to wreak their vengeance upon the Presi- dent, who was deceived and lured to political destruction by the stand-par, leaders. These men, at least most of them, were not animated so much by love for Colonel Roosevelt as they were by their desire to defeat President Taft one of the most amiable of all our public men. They simply seiv.ed Colonel Roosevelt and used him as the instrument of destruction. They succeeded aston- ishingly well in doing Taft to death politically. "Barkus '* fnr Pnlnnrl to be latter determined President sure enough and to have of his own. That he was under a policy profound obliga- tions to Roosevelt for helping him to the White House Taft always freely admitted, but he was man enough to not the feel that he was mere shadow or alter ego of the Colonel. Hence the alienation of affection on the part of Roosevelt. These enemies of Taft kept the Colonel thoroughly informed while he was in the Old World as to the growing disaffection toward the President; sent agents to meet him abroad, insisting on his running again, and by the time he landed on his native shore he was an active candidate, his heart boiling with rage. He and his fol- lowers filled the country with the clatter of the campaign, and came within a Georgetown graze of capturing the nomination. Failing that, he got him up a party of his own, was of course nominated by it, and ended his as- tounding political career by being defeated but he de- feated Taft, which was the great desideratum. As I have heretofore stated, the Fifty-fourth Congress did little work. It sat fewer days than most of its prede- cessors or successors. Its annals are brief and dull. Mr. Cleveland was still President. Both Senate and House were Republican the latter by an overwhelming majority. Politically, therefore, the government was stalemate. If the President had proposed any measure tinged with politics, the Republican Congress would have blocked it. If the Republican Congress had passed any measure for political effect, the President would have vetoed it. Ex-Speaker Crisp, having been the Democratic nominee for Speaker, was ipso facto minority leader; but his activi- ties and energies were directed far more to securing, over ex-Secretary of the Interior Moke Smith, the Scnatorship than in performing the functions of the minority leader- had been drubbed out ot their Democrats just boots, having lost everything at the preceding November elec- tion. They were sore awfully sore about everybody and everything, including themselves. Criminations and recriminations were the order of the day. All this so once he said to vexed Crisp that Joseph Weldon Bailey, to the of Texas himself destined minority leadership: "Nobody can lead this wrangling, quarrelsome, factional- ized Democratic minority. I do not intend to return to the House. I am going home to stand for the Senate. If I lose that, I will quit public life forever." It is interesting to note that Bailey, young, brilliant, able, enthusiastic, and aggressive, became minority leader in the Fifty-fifth Congress, and with all his splendid ability was so pestered by Democratic kickers that he followed Crisp's example, declined to stand for re-election, and went over to the Senate, where he developed into one of the most powerful debaters of this generation. After almost twelve years of service in the House of "The Con- script Fathers," he wearied of public life, resigned, and is now practising law in Washington, where I hear that his unusual talents are earning a splendid income. As stated heretofore, Crisp achieved the nomination to the Senate, which, in Georgia, was equivalent to election, but he died before he could be elected. Speaker Reed appointed former -Governor Nelson Dingley, of Maine, chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, thereby making him cx-officio floor leader. Reed and Dingley were wannest friends, though perhaps no two men of unquestioned ability were ever less alike, mentally or physically. Reed was far and away the most brilliant figure in American politics. Dingley v/as the most methodical of mankind. Reed's speeches snarkle like a i?em. entire career of forty years as editor and public speaker, ever wrote or uttered one brilliant sentence or one tbat men will remember. But he got there just the same. of His was the genius industry, and it is the old story of the hare and the tortoise over again, with variations. He verifies the words of New England's sweetest poet:

The heights by great men reached and kept Were not attained by sudden flight, But they while their companions slept Were toiling upward in the night.

In all respects mental, moral, and physical Dingley resembled Madison most of all our Presidents. Governor Dingley was a college-bred man of solid understanding, and was an indefatigable student, particularly in every- thing pertaining to finance. He reveled in statistics, and a book made up entirely of figures had as great a fascina- tion for him as the latest novel had for a girl of sixteen. Reed, while very fond of Dingley, liked to tease him and to crack jokes at his expense. He once said, "The Governor would rather have a pencil and pad of paper on his knee than a pretty girl." Physically, Dingley was small, spare, and frail, with an appearance suggestive of consumption. He had what is called "the scholar's stoop" in a marked degree. He was a frequent, lucid, and instructive, but not a pleasant speaker; had a weak, rasping voice, a well-developed nasal twang, an aquiline nose, and a bald head. In- deed, three of the distinguished Maine quartet in that Congress were sadly in need of hair-restorer. Uncle Seth Milliken was the only Pine Tree Representative who wasn't decidedly short in hirsute adornments. In the /\ great many peisunt* ucucvc \.u*\. jiuuuuy listens to should speeches in Congress. All such have been present when Governor Dingley rose to address the House. Members from all parts of the hall left their seats and crowded in compact mass in front of him. They were reasons: anxious to hear him for two First, because they realized that he was speaking ex cathedra; second, hecause they knew that he was master of his suhject and was dis- pensing the Republican gospel on that theme. Governor Dingley was a pronounced brunette, with a Hebraic cast of features; but he was not a Jew, as New England has not been sufficiently liberalized to confer high political honors on the descendants of Abraham and the kindred of Judah P. Benjamin and Benjamin Disraeli. Mr. Dingley's commanding position teaches a most im- portant lesson. The North in general, New England in particular, understands thoroughly the wisdom of retaining faithful and capable servants in Congress for long periods, be- lieving correctly that if there is anything in a man it will be developed, and his influence in the national councils increases precisely in proportion to his length of service. Daniel Webster, Edward Everett, John P. Hale, Jeremy Collamer, John Quincy Adams, Hannibal Hamlin, Will- iam Pitt Fessetiden, Henry Wilson, Charles Su inner, James G. Blaine, and others passed most of their Jives, after reaching the Congressional age, in Washington City. George F. Edmunds, of Vermont, who died only a few months ago, might have spent all his days in the Senate had he not resigned to get rich practising law. George Frisbie Hoar, Henry Cabot Lodge, General Hawley, William P. Frye, Eugene Hale, and William E. Chandler also spent most of their manhood days in Congress. months and in the Senate years nine twenty-four days nine months and a total of forty-three years twenty-four days. Take Maine, for instance. Her delegation, in propor- the most influential in tion to numbers, was the House less out of service an influence growing no of length than four in out of inherent capacity. She had only men the House. Reed was Speaker; Dingley, chairman of Ways and Means; Boutelle, chairman of Naval Affairs; Milli- ken of Public Buildings and Grounds. All served more than twenty years. there are hundreds Experience is a hard school, but of the machine things about complicated Congressional which can be learned in no other. They do not come or or elo- by instinct or intuition. No genius learning for this of quence can compensate positive knowledge details and of legislative machinery knowledge which may appear trivial to the uninitiated, but, as an aid to a successful career, of vital importance. No length of service in Congress could make a man like Reed or Wilson, unless he were dowered by nature with shining talents and a nimble tongue. But there are many men in the country who would rise to distinction if they were elected to Congress at the age as of forty-nine, as Dingley was, and kept there as long he was that, too, after having been Governor of his state. James A. Garfield once said, "There is no place where a man finds his true level so certainly and so speedily as in the House of Representatives," and I say there is no such training-school for intellectual development any- where else on earth as the House of Representatives. A man whose mind does not expand there is an incorrigible fool. their interests ana harmony with political Delicts, who is and at possessed of industry, energy, integrity, least fair to capacity, and who is young enough grow, send him to Congress and give him to understand that so long as he his duties will grows and discharges faithfully they keep him there. With that sort of a lease on public life any man of even ordinary talents will develop into an important factor in of the Congress. Beginning at the foot class, as all new members must through death, promotion, and the vicis- will situdes of politics, he in a few years find himself at the head of one of the great committees which is the first desideratum with every Congressman ambitious for him- self or for his people. Without a good committee assignment a new member, to make himself felt and heard, must be a man of extraor- dinary parts. Though Maine produced Thomas B. Reed and sent Artemus Ward forth on his mirth-provoking career, her bleak climate does not seem favorable to the growth of humorists. Of this quality Governor Dingley was as destitute as a tombstone. He made only one effort in that direction during the Fifty-fifth Congress, and that was not such a howling success as to tempt him to a repetition thereof. In a running-fire debate with Jerry Simpson, on the proposed bond issue, he characterised Jerry's plan as a Uriah Heep scheme of finance; and here's the sequel; Two days later Jerry, with most provoking gravity, said: "The gentleman from Maine on that occasion did me the honor to notice me, and said it would be a Uriah Heep policy. I confess that I was at a very great loss to sec what the connection was between the two, and how Uriah Heen could fierure as a financier, even in the mind of the and I refer to this now only to show how dangerous it when he is for a New-Englander undertakes to perpetrate a joke. Some gentleman suggested that perhaps the from Maine gentleman meant Mr. Micawberj and lo and behold! in the next morning's Record I saw the 'joke* had been corrected. I believe it was the very first time in the history of The Record that a joke was corrected in that publication. The gentleman from Maine should have prepared a diagram to explain his witticism." Governor Dingley's absolute lack of a sense of humor induced "Private" John Allen, of Mississippi, one of the greatest humorists that ever lived, to perpetrate a neat little joke on him. In the dog-days of 1894 John and the Governor were riding together on the same street-car. The Governor was doing a little calamity-howling, lament- ing the had situation to which the Democrats had brought the business of the country. John said: "Governor, you are entirely too blue over this thing. It is not true that good, profitable investments cannot be made. I made a small one this morning on which I realized hand- somely, clearing about twenty percent.!" The Governor was wide-awake instantev, said he would like to invest some money in such a paying institution, and asked John how he did it. John with preternatural solemnity replied, "I purchased six street-car tickets for two bits, whereas usually they cost a nickel each!" at which the Governor was in a huff for a week. For some years Governor Dingley and I had only a speaking acquaintance, '('here was nothing to bring us together. He was much older than I, a New England Republican, and went about, to all outward appearances, dressed in a coat of ice. At last, however, both of us had trouble with our throats and had the same throat special- UaLLy we and we kept us in for considerable time, conversed on sundry topics. Once I asked, "Governor, if men favor- tariff should hold of House and ing a revenue get Senate, better of the what would be the way reducing tariff, by a as William R. Morrison tried to horizontal cut, do, or by in each schedule reducing the rates separately?" He re- an or one plied, "Nobody except ignoramus, too indolent of or the to work, would think raising reducing tariff per- a cut or increase." As he manently by horizontal had only recently forced through a horizontal raise, I expressed my and his surprise at his statement, jogged memory about his own performance in that regard. He answered, "That doesn't count, as it is only a temporary expedient for the purpose of raising sufficient revenue for the Spanish War, and not a permanent policy." And then for nearly an in a hour he explained to me thoroughly, and most kindly and wherefore of his manner, the why theory. The gist of his argument was that a rate which would be a good revenue-producer on one article would be prohibitive on another, giving as a sample of the former class Chinese silks, light of weight, cheap to transport, occupying small space, and no loss from breakage, and fine glassware and crockery-ware as a sample of the second class, expensive to ship, liable to much breakage, occupying greater space, and entailing heavy insurance charges. His monologue was really a valuable and luminous lecture on the phi- losophy of the tariff, which I took to heart, remembered and acted on when in after-years my turn came to help construct the Paync-Aldvich-Smoot TartrT bill. In that conversation Governor Dingley rendered me almost speechless with surprise by telling me that when he quit college he was a free-trader, and how he became a protectionist. He expressed a hope that I might do more benenciai to a ooy, a regular classical course or one of the new-fangled select courses. He responded with much earnestness and enthusiasm, "The classical course and the best." He illustrated his is far away opinion by his observations on his own sons giving and other young men of his acquaintance. After these conferences he and I were warm friends. The last public function that he and I both attended was a Gridiron Club banquet, just after the close of the war with Spain. Several generals, admirals, Cabinet mem- bers, and Senators spoke- exploiting what the army, navy, Cabinet, and Senate did in the war never referring to the work of the House. It so happened that the Gov- ernor and myself were the only Representatives present, and that I was the only Representative on the speaking- list. It also happened, furthermore, that I came after the aforementioned generals, admirals, Cabinet members, and Senators. I rounded up the whole crowd in a half- serious, half-humorous way, taking up the cudgels on behalf of the House. This so pleased Governor Dingley that when the feast ended he walked the full length of the biggest banquet-hall in Washington to congratulate me and to take my hand. The House decreed him a public funeral an unusual honor to which he was fully entitled. All in all, he was one of the most useful and powerful of the sons of Maine. Governor Dingley was succeeded as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee l>y Hon. Sereno E. Payne, of New York a very large and a very handsome man. He was Father of the Paync-Aldrich-Smoot Tariff bill. He was also Father of the House. He was a strong man in every way, and made strong speeches, without a trace of wit or humor in them. Here is an incident demonstrating how we sometimes who had opportunity to study him closely knew that he possessed a vast store of information, particularly on the a tariff. No wonder, for he was student and participated in five revisions of the tariff. In debate he was irritable and brusk to such an extent that he frequently hurt the feelings of members who interrupted him in his speeches. I did not like the way in which he sawed me off on several occasions, and for a long time had it in my heart to catch him in the right situation and smite him hip and thigh. Finally, however, I was placed on the Committee on Ways and Means, of which he was chairman. During the Christmas holidays succeeding I was in New England and New York on a lecture tour. When I entered a parlor-car in New York, en route to Washington, I had Mr. Payne as a fellow-passenger. He came and sat down by me and gave me a cordial welcome to his committee. He talked to me all the way to Washington, and as I had never talked with him ten minutes privately before that trip, I was amaxed to discover that he was a most pleasant gentleman, nn unusually fine raconteur, and that his stock of personal and interesting reminiscences seemed inexhaustible. He spoke most entertainingly and humor- ously of Thurlow Weed, William PL Seward, Plorace Greeley, Horatio Seymour, Governor Morgan, Roscoe Conkling, Samuel Sullivan Cox, Henry J. Raymond, and other New York worthies of a pnst generation. Those five hours were not only delightful, but also instructive to me, and added much to the sum total of my historical knowledge. That trip laid the foundation of a close personal friendship between Mr. Payne and myself which grew stronger and more tender with the passing years, till the day of his death. He was the most distinguished member of the House to die in harness as no doubt he wished to die after the death of Governor Dinerlev* his with the honored fully parted company and well-beloved "Father of the House." Large bodies move slowly, so It is said. That is precisely what the House of Representatives is, and that is exactly the manner of its movement. Vis inertus is a prominent feature of its being. Nevertheless it moves. During my long service I have witnessed much progress toward per- fection in its rules and practices. While we have not reached the millennium, we are improving in nothing more than in the treatment of contested election cases. Under the Constitution "each House of Congress shall be judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members." From the judgments of either House there is no appeal. At first, but only for two terms, the House of Representatives tried to act with an approxima- tion of judicial fairness, but soon abandoned the effort, since when most contests have been settled on a partisan basis. Great outrages have been committed by all parties which have controlled the House, but within the last dozen years the House has grown weary of the scandals attaching to such cases, and has entered upon a wiser, fairer, and more patriotic course. In these tatter days a contestant must make out a reasonable case in order to unseat a contestee. Consequently the number of con- tests has dwindled perceptibly. Much credit for this reform should be given to James R. Mann, of Chicago, for eight years last past the very able Republican minority leader.

Perhaps political rancor reached high-water mark during reconstruction days. At nny rate, it was during that unhappy period that contested election cases were so numerous as to become a burden, and were decided entirely on party lines. in ms very readable book, History and Procedure of the House of Representatives, says: "Upon entering the room of which he was a of the Committee on Elections, member, Thaddeus Stevens inquired the point in the case under investigation. 'There is not much point to it,* replied his colleague; 'they are both damned scoundrels.' 'Well,' said Stevens, 'which is the Republican damned scoundrel? I want to go for him.'" Others felt the same way, but did not have the effrontery to express it so bluntly I saw at least one fine illustration and verification of the old saying, "Evil inventions sometimes return to plague the inventors." In the Fifty-third Congress, Col. Josiah Patterson, of Tennessee, was chairman of the Committee on Elections. We had only one such com- mittee then, but we have three now. On the face of the returns Charles F. Joy, of St. Louis "Charlie" to his friends, who are numbered by his acquaintances had a little over three hundred majority; but his right to his seat was contested by John J. O'Neil, a veteran member. The case turned on this one point: The Missouri Australian ballot law, of which I am the author, provides, among other things, that the ballot clerks shall place their initials on all ballots for purposes of identification a per- fectly proper safeguard. It so happened that enough Joy ballots to turn the scale were found in one or two boxes without the initials of the ballot clerks. Colonel Patterson reported in favor of seating O'Neil, and Joy was thrown out. That was in 1893. Joy felt grossly outraged, and breathed out threatening against Patterson that he would get even. Joy liked to give dinners, and they were good ones. In this way, and by reason of his unexcelled social qualities, he had a large nf fripnrls in tlif Hnti

t-rnn > rxoir-nnl/ in full fV*i tli/>r uii uiiv. uiui-iv i WclC lAJiuiLtu m_,-)Uiiy ill i>(j VCIIlljcr, y4, tnirabile dictu, it was Snodgrass who was remanded to the shades of private life and not Colonel Patterson. Mark Twain was born some two or three miles west of the Ninth Congressional District of Missouri, which I represent. He was reared jam up against the north end

of it, in the city of Hannibal, which now has a Mark Twain hotel, a Mark Twain monument, and a Mark Twain museum. It so happened that some years before his death I was top Democrat on the Committee on Patents, which has jurisdiction over trade-marks and copyrights, as well as next to top Democrat on the great Committee on Foreign Affairs. In December, 1903, I gave up both those assign- ments to go on the Ways and Means Committee. Twain and I had never seen each other, but because we were both Missourians from the same neck of the woods, and because he thought that I was still top Demo- crat on patents, in January, 1904, he wrote to me stating that he wanted a bill passed giving to authors a perpetual copyright. I answered, explaining that the Congress would never enact any such law also stating that the Congress would be willing to help the authors out, and outlining what I considered possible as to improvements in that regard. I suggested that he employ a good lawyer to work out a bill containing my suggestions, as I did not have time to do it. He followed my advice, and the bill was duly prepared, and finally with some immaterial amendments placed upon the .statute-book, making more liberal arrangements as to copyrights, thereby largely enhancing their value. In February he wrote me that he was coming to Wash- ington to lobby for the bill, and he proved to be the prince of lobbyists. He came to mv oflice as soon as he arrived. to to them about his bill, which seemed be near his heart. As I had only one room, and Mr. Speaker Cannon had his three or four, I borrowed one of stenographer's r-oms into on the ground floor and sent a page up the House to Mark Twain was notify certain members that below and desired to converse with them. They came gladly in all and for fact, first and last they nearly came, two days Twain held his court talking all the time and such talk! He talked about steamboating on the Mississippi, about his and the experiences in Nevada, California, Sandwich Isl- ands, about lecturing, writing books, about his travels in rich and far lands, about getting ^oing broke, about the prominent people he had met in short, about almost but everything and everybody always wound up by arguing in favor of his bill. On the morning of the second day there was a blinding snow-storm in Washington, and Twain blossomed out in a flannel suit, white as the snow, For a his while all the world wondered. week eccentricity in dress was the talk not only of the town, but of the whole country. He was written up and cartooned in every ambitious paper. His white flannels were the re- sounding theme of every tongue. Incidentally, his bill v/as universally discussed. For that cunningly devised caper he must have received a million dollars' worth of free advertising for his copyright bill. Not content with that, he wrote Mr. Speaker Cannon a humorous note, asking permission to address the House which the Speaker could not grant, as the rules of the House abso- lutely forbid the Speaker from even entertaining such a motion. I feel certain that if Twain had addressed the House he would have secured the perpetual copyright for which he longed. It is said that for years he nursed an ambition to be a

wi a rvt K r\ f r\C t-Kn H<-\iir-^i '.o *I i .-I T^-vl-iii T 'inrfnti/tfi Xnllnnn Some months after his death there was a great meeting in Carnegie Hall, New York, to pay tribute to his memory. That great hall was crowded to the ceiling. Dr. William Dean Howells presided, made a splendid opening speech, and most gracefully and graciously introduced the other were H. speakers, who Joseph Choate, Henry van Dyke, George W. Cable, Mr. Speaker Cannon, Henry Watterson, and myself. I take it that no such funeral speeches have ever been delivered since the confusion of tongues at the Tower of Babel. For three mortal hours we did nothing but crack jokes and tell anecdotes about Twain. The chances are ten to one that that was the sort of tribute to his memory that he would have desired had he been con- sulted. However that may be, the vast audience enjoyed at after the of it, and n P.M., manner Oliver Twist, cried for more. CHAPTER II

Colonel Hitt's dinner John Sherman DeArmond,

night at a great dinner given by Col. R. R. Hitt, ONEthe elegant chairman of the great Committee on Foreign Affairs, to Sanford 13. Dole, President of the Hawaiian Republic, I happened to sit in talking distance of Mr. Secretary of State John Sherman, with only Lemuel Eli Quigg betwixt us. During the course of the dinner I asked Secretary Sherman how he regarded in the retro- spect his defeat for the Speakership in 1859-60. He replied, "Sometimes I think it was a misfortune, and some- times a blessing In disguise." That contest in which Sherman was one of the principal figures, being the Re- publican nominee for Speaker, was of unusual heat and length, lasting two whole months. There were four par- ties in the House then Republicans, Democrats, together with a small contingent of Whigs and Americans (alias Know nothings), and the two latter split into pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions. No party had the majority necessary to elect. Once Sherman came within three votes of the pri'/e; but every time he was nearing the goal Gen. John 13. Clark, of Missouri ("Old Gen. John B.," as he is known in our state, to distinguish him from his son, "Young Gen. John 13."), a man of splendid talents, par- ticular!}' in an oratorical way, a violent pro-slavery Whig, would make a blood-and-thunder ad captanduin harangue Helper, which would drive the pro-slavery Whigs and from Americans away ^Sherman. So, after trying nearly man in their every prominent party, finally the Republi- cans put up ex-Governor Pennington of New Jersey, who was serving his first and only term in the House, and he was elected for the strange reason that he had no record on the slavery question or any other. He, like Frederick the Augustus Muhlenberg, first Speaker, and Henry Clay, was elected Speaker during his first term in Congress. At the end of his one term he disappeared from human ken, while John Sherman served in the Senate for thirty-two years, was Secretary of the Treasury four years and Sec- retary of State one year, and was a prominent candidate for President. I have often thought of his statement that lie sometimes considered his defeat for the Speakership a misfortune and sometimes a blessing in disguise. The chances are that had I been made minority leader in 1904., when I first wanted it, I never would have mounted to the Speakership, because at that time the Democrats were so thoroughly factionalized that it may well be doubted whether any man could have led them in four Congresses without making enemies enough to defeat him for Speaker. It so happened that Judge David A. DeArmond, of Missouri, who had been a candidate for minority leader twice before, wanted to be a candidate again in 1904 against John Sharp Williams, who was running for a third term, and so did I. The rivalry betwixt DeArmond, a man of exceptional ability, and myself was perhaps the longest between two Representatives from the same state in tli5 entire history of the Republic, We were on friendly terms and did not seek to be rivals, but we were in was senior longer than i naa, ana age my oy six years. achieved in the He had high standing House, being second among Democrats on the great Judiciary Com- mittee, while I held exactly the same rank on Ways and Means. The Missouri delegation of its own motion, so far as I know, took the matter of our candidacy into its own hands, and DeArmond prevailed by one majority. Williams was re-elected that year, and again in 1906. for United In 1908 he was nominated States Senator, which in Mississippi is equivalent to the election. The three races which DeArmond had made against him for the minority leadership, and the fist fight they had, which I described briefly in a former chapter, had made mortal enemies of them. Consequently Williams made up his mind that DeArmond should not succeed him in the minority leadership if he could prevent it. So, after his nomination for United States Senator, one day I received a letter from him, in which he stated that on a certain day about three weeks in the future he would write a letter to Henry D. Clayton, chairman of the Democratic caucus, informing him that when Congress convened in December he would resign the minority leadership which letter Clayton would publish. The Congress was then in vaca- tion. I acted on his hint, and immediately wrote to every Democratic member except Judge DeArmond and one other, stating that I would be a candidate for the minority leadership, and by the time that Judge Clayton published the Williams letter 1 had pledges from a large majority of Democratic members. I was unanimously elected to fill out the fragment of Williams's term. In the next six Congresses I was unanimously nominated for Speaker in Democratic caucuses which made me minority leader in the Sixty-first Congress and Speaker in the Sixty-second, Sixty-third, Sixty-fourth, and Sixty-fifth Congresses, also caucus for first term in the Democratic Jiis Speakership. in luck in that I played great regard, just as I played in luck as to the time at which I came into great the minority leadership, which led to the Speakership. Notwithstanding Taft's easy victory in 1908, the Re- had entered the publicans already upon process of disin- Their in tegration. majority the House of over 140, elected in 1904, fell to 57 in 1906 and to 47 in 1908, so that by combining with 24 insurgent Republicans when all of our men stood fire we could beat them. It is here gratefully stated that Senator Williams enabled me to make my election to the minority leadership certain and easy, and that Judge DeArmond supported me in that position with absolute fidelity. He had been prosecuting attorney, state Senator, Circuit judge, and Supreme Court commissioner, in all of which positions he had discharged his duties with signal ability. Through his long incumbency on the bench he had acquired the judicial style of speaking. He was easily one of the most effective spccchmakers in the House, and was always listened to gladly. He never wrote a speech. When he first told me that I didn't believe it, but one day he told me circumstantially why he did not. He said that when quite a young man he made a speech on some important occasion, and that he wrote it carefully, com- mitting it thoroughly to memory, as he thought; but to his utter disgust and dismay, right in the middle of it, for- got it and floundered to the end. After that exasperating experience he never wrote a word of another speech. As he was by far the most skilful verbal precisian in the House, nnd his sentences were perfect in construction and sparkled like u gcm> I set my mind on solving the mystery of his preparation. At last I did it. He carried a small nours at a remavmng m that position stretch he \vas mechanically cutting up old envelops and papers. Dur- short of an ing that queer process nothing earthquake was as oblivious to all would disturb him. He sublunary with his things as was Archimedes experimenting soap- bubbles. The truth is that, while clipping envelops and he was paper with his little scissors, preparing a speech, churning his ideas into shape as the waters churn the with that rocks, and when he was through unique per- formance his speech wns as perfectly prepared as though he had written it out, rewritten it, polished it up, and com- mitted it to memory. While we had up the Philippine Tariff bill Minority Leader Williams was suddenly called serious to Mississippi on account of the illness of his daughter. He turned the management of the bill for our side, including control of the time, over to me. I yielded an hour to Judge DeArmond, and then planted myself in front of him as a matter of curiosity to see if he uttered a slovenly sentence or made a slip of the tongue. There was just one little slip he used the word worser instead of worse, and corrected himself instanterl He never quoted anything except a statute or a court decision or a section of the Constitution or a rule of the House or an opinion of a Speaker or other presiding officer. He made no historical or biographical references, and, judging from his speeches, which were q\iite numerous some of them elaborate he had no acquaintance with the poets; never- theless, he always made <\ strong and interesting speech. His forte was sarcasm. As a verbal precisian he had no equal in either branch of Congress after John James Ingalls left the Senate. In the minority he was a power. I have often won- dered what sort of a record he would have made in the mainritv. to liberalize the rules and to put an end to the one-man the and the on the power of Speaker, fight Payne-Aid rich- Smoot Tariff bill which two performances gave us the House in 1910 also the House, Senate, and Presidency It was narc* but work that I in 1912. work, stuck to and loved. CHAPTER III

Wars made Presidents.

war in which we have been CVERY engaged has pro- J-' duced a President or Presidents. Of course this does not apply to our various Indian wars, although certain of them have helped in sending men to the White House. The Revolutionary War made Washington President and aided Monroe and Jackson to realize their highest ambi- tion. Monroe was little more than a while boy serving in the army, saw little service, and rose to no high rank. Aaron Burr, a brilliant soldier, who liked Mm not, sneer- ingly declared that his chief duties in the army were to tankard filled and listen keep Lord Stirling's with appar- ent interest to his lordship's long-winded stories; but the testimony of his comrades was to the cfFcct that Monroe was a if not a soldier. good, distinguished, At any rate, his military record was helpful to him all his days. He never rose than higher lieutenant, but was a stout fighter in the and was badly wounded glorious American victory at Trenton. It is an interesting fact that no American soldier was killed in that important engagement, and ~ only r,r>a rtt-Knr V.i-n-1,-1 r A/1 n,i ,-r,n IHTIC* T.T^,, ,,-, simple process of tying a string around his leg between his body and his wound, thereby stopping the hemorrhage. General Jackson was a mere boy when a British officer cut his scalp open with a saber for refusing to black his boots. He surely made the British pay for that piece of brutality on January 8, 1815, and pay an exceedingly high rate of interest. When he was a candidate for re-election to the Presi- dency in 1832 Francis P. Blair, the elder, went over to the White House and told the general that the Whigs were circulating a campaign-tale to the effect that the story about the British officer slashing him on the head was a lie, made of whole cloth for political effect. The old hero took hold of Blair's forefinger and, running it up into his bristly white hair into the gash made by the brutal Britisher's sword, told Blair to tell what he discovered. The War of 1812 made Presidents of Andrew Jackson and William Henry Harrison, and a Vice-President of Col. Richard Mentor Johnson. It also assisted Gen. Lewis Cass, Gen, Zachary Taylor, and Gen. Winfield Scott in achieving presidential nominations. The Mexican War made Presidents of Taylor and Pierce, and gave Scott a presidential nomination. It also was one of the reasons why Major John Cabell Breckcnridge was made Vice- Presidcnr in 1856 and a presidential nominee in 1860. The Civil War elected General Grant, and contributed to the election of Gen. Rutherford B. Hayes, Gen. James A. Garfieltl, Gen. Benjamin Harrison, and Major William McKinlcy. It also nominated Gen. Winfield Scott Han- cock for President in 1880, and Gen. Frank P. Blair for Vice-President on the ticket with Horatio Seymour, in 1868. Even our brief war with Spain was largely instrumental in elevatine Col. Theodore Roosevelt to the Presidency. Polk was a aggravating. President Democrat, and his carried on that war so administration, which successfully, was Democratic; but it so happened that the two most that war were distinguished soldiers of General Taylor and General Scott, both of whom were Whigs. As soon as Taylor gained die victories of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma certain Whigs began to shout for him for Presi- dent. After his brilliant triumph at Buena Vista his chances went soaring, and through the skilful manipula- tions of Thurlow Weed and other Whig leaders who were in search of a winner, Clay, Webster, Crittenden, Corwin, Everett, and all the rest of the great Whig statesmen were unceremoniously brushed aside, and the nomination given to Taylor, the military chieftain, whose soldiers fondly called him "Old Rough-and-Ready," and who had never lost a battle or a skirmish. It goes without saying that Clay's enthusiastic followers were thoroughly disgusted as was "the Great Commoner'* himself while "Daniel the Godlike" flatly pronounced it a nomination unfit to be made. President Polk, knowing himself to be suffering from some fatal malady, was not a candidate for a second term, but he desired with all his heart that his successor should be a Democrat. Consequently he and other eminent Democrats, reading the signs of the times as indicating a Whig nomination for Hero Taylor, laid their heads to- gether to bring a Democratic military hero out of the Mexican War so as to nominate him for President. It would not do to promote Pierce, Butler, Pillow, or any of the junior volunteer generals, over the heads of the glorified conquerors, Taylor and Scott. Public opinion would not stand for so raw a deal as that. With soldiers, seniority of commission is a most important point, somc- i-in-i/jo -i T/it-i! i-]iiM*Y- Sn t\in T)/imrn-r;iHr wicmrrPC ClPVlSPn under our military laws then existing. Congress was to a bill be asked to pass creating the extraordinary rank of lieutenant-general, till then never held by any American except George Washington during our troubles with France. The understanding was that Col. Thomas Hart Benton, of Missouri, was to be the lieutenant-general, and consequently the Democratic hero and the Democratic nominee for President. Accordingly the bill was intro- duced, and passed the House; but, alas and alack! it failed of passage in the Senate by three votes, through the and as Benton jealousy machinations, savagely asserts, of William L. Marcy, Robert J. Walker, and James Buchanan, all members of Folk's Cabinet, all candidates for President, and all utterly without military glory. Consequently none of them wanted a Democratic military hero to come out of Mexico to walk off with the greatly coveted Democratic presidential nomination. All of which is a fine illustration of the wisdom of Burns's lines:

The best laid schemes o* mice and men Gang aft a-gley; And leave us naught but grief and pain For promised joy.

Colonel Benton gave an amusing reason why Generals Taylor and Scott would not have objected to his being placed over their heads with the rank of lieutenant-gen- eral, and that was that his commission as lieutenant- colonel in the War of 1812, when all three held that rank, antedated theirs. Doubtless that satisfied and convinced "the Great Missourian" that the extraordinary, not to say astounding, measure which he fathered, and of which he was to be the chief beneficiary, would be acceptable to the two great soldiers most concerned, but there is no